香港人社保資源趨近飽和 政府有意安排去內地養老

Hong Kong has come up with a novel way to deal with the rising costs of an ageing population and a shortage of land: export some of its elderly across the border to mainland China.

香港設計出了一個應對老齡人口相關費用日益上漲以及土地短缺問題的新方法：將部分老齡人口輸出到邊境線另一邊的中國內地。

The Chinese territory is not alone in looking at ways to deal with a problem that is taxing governments across Asia from Japan to Singapore, South Korea and mainland China itself.

作爲中國領土一部分的香港並不是唯一正在尋求老齡化應對之策的地區，老齡化給日本、新加坡、韓國以及中國內地等亞洲地區的各國政府都造成了沉重負擔。

But its partial solution comes against a backdrop of growing hostility between the people of Hong Kong and their close neighbours.

但香港的局部解決方案產生的背景是，香港民衆與他們內地近鄰之間的關係愈發緊張。

In recent years Hong Kong campaigners have denounced “mainland mothers” for occupying maternity beds, when they cross the border to give birth and ensure their children have Hong Kong residency. They have also turned their ire against tourists from the mainland for using up local resources, despite the fact that visitors pour huge amounts of money into the territory. This trend even prompted local lawmakers to consider amending anti-discrimination laws so that calling mainlanders “locusts” would be a racist offence.

近年來，香港的社會活動人士公開指責“內地產婦”佔用了產房病牀，這類產婦過境來到香港分娩，以確保她們的孩子擁有香港居留權。香港活動人士還把怒火指向了內地遊客，指責他們耗盡了香港當地資源，雖然他們也給香港帶來了大規模資金流入。這一趨勢甚至促使香港立法當局考慮修訂反歧視法規，稱內地客爲“蝗蟲”將被視作一種種族主義違法行爲。

But now the Hong Kong government, under pressure to provide homes for almost 30,000 elderly people on the waiting list for subsidised residential care, is looking to neighbouring Guangdong province to provide the space, and a partial solution, for its demographic problem.

但香港政府目前面臨着巨大壓力，需要向等候名單上的約3萬名老年人提供有補貼的院舍護理服務。香港政府將希望寄託在了毗鄰的廣東省身上，希望廣東能夠提供土地，並給香港的人口結構問題提供一個局部解決方案。

The elderly population, defined as those aged over 65, is set to make up more than a third of the population by 2050. Hong Kong also has one of the highest elderly poverty rates in the developed world.

到了2050年，老齡人口——按定義是指年齡超過65歲的羣體——在香港總人口中所佔比例預計將超過三分之一。香港同時也是老年人貧困率最高的發達經濟體之一。

The scheme will initially be limited to a maximum of 400 places but the need is acute. The average wait of 20-30 months for a place in a residential home means thousands of elderly people die before they ever get one.

新計劃最初限定於至多400個宿位，但其所反映的需求非常急迫。養老服務院舍一個宿位的平均等待時長爲20至30個月，這意味着數以千計的老人還沒等到宿位，就已離世了。

Ng Ping Yiu took up a place at a care home across the border before the new scheme was unveiled. But now that it is due to start in earnest, the 71-year-old has begun recommending the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation’s home in the manufacturing centre of Shenzhen to his friends.

吳平耀（Ng Ping Yiu，音譯）早在新計劃公佈以前，就在邊境另一邊的一家護理中心佔了一個宿位。現在新計劃將要真正啓動了，這位現年71歲的老人開始向朋友們推薦香港康復會(Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation)在深圳設立的護理中心。深圳是一座製造業中心城市。

“Here, there are mountains, greenery and flowers . . . For visiting, it’s not as convenient as Hong Kong, but there’s not that much difference,” says Mr Ng.

吳平耀說：“這裏有山，有綠葉植物和鮮花。。。在來人探訪方面，這裏不像香港那麼方便，但也沒有太大的區別。”

The shortage of care home places that has taken Mr Ng across the Chinese border is not unique to Hong Kong. Indeed, mainland China will have to consider how it cares for its own elderly, who are set to grow to almost a quarter of the population by 2050.

護理中心宿位短缺促使吳平耀穿過了中國邊境，但這一問題並非香港所獨有。正相反，中國內地也需要思考如何爲本土老人提供護理服務；到2050年，老年人佔中國內地總人口的比例將上升至約四分之一。

But Hong Kong’s struggle to house its old people is exacerbated by a shortage of land that has meant its property prices are among the highest in the world. And yet the take-up of mainland residential places by Hong Kong residents has so far been relatively low.

但香港爲老年羣體提供住所的困難因土地供給短缺而進一步加大，而土地供給短缺又使香港成爲了全球房地產價格最高的地區之一。但到目前爲止，香港居民入住內地護理院舍宿位的比例一直相對較低。

Shuffling around his home in the Kowloon area while his wife sleeps, 87-year-old Ng Shui Wing could certainly do with more space. The flat, made up of one main room with a kitchen and bathroom attached, has barely enough space to contain their belongings, let alone his wife’s wheelchairs – one of which doubles as a chair because of the lack of room.

現年87歲的吳水永（Ng Shui Wing，音譯）在位於香港九龍地區的家中拖着腳四處走動，此時他的妻子正在睡覺。毫無疑問，他當然希望有更大的空間。這間由一個主臥、一個廚房和一個衛生間組成的公寓幾乎沒有足夠的空間來放下他們的所有物品，在放下他妻子的輪椅後就更是侷促——因爲空間不夠，這副輪椅也承擔了椅子的雙重作用。

Mr Ng has been waiting for a subsidised place in a care home for four years but has no wish to go to Guangdong. “If I went, how would I go at my age? How would I go so far?”

過去四年來，吳水永一直在等候一個政府補貼的護理中心宿位，但他從未產生過去廣東的念頭。“如果我要去廣東，在我這把年紀能怎麼過去？我怎麼去得了那麼遠的地方？”

He is also worried about being separated from his wife, who has had a stroke: “I care for her, I feed her . . . When I’m at home to look after her it’s better – to have a loved one there.”

他還擔心和自己的妻子分開，妻子此前患上了中風。“我照顧她，喂她吃飯……我在家裏照料她的時候，身邊有一個相愛的人，會更好一點。”

Advocates of the scheme – the first applications will be processed in July – believe the government will need to provide incentives, including reassurances about healthcare, for the likes of Mr Ng. In the past, people who retired to the mainland have often travelled back to Hong Kong to receive medical treatment because they cannot afford to pay for it in China.

新計劃的支持者們相信，政府有必要向吳水永這樣的老人提供激勵機制，包括向他們就醫療保健服務做出保證。過去，退休之後定居內地的老人常常會返回香港接受治療，因爲他們承擔不起在內地接受治療的費用。新計劃將於今年7月處理首批申請。

The Elderly Commission, which was set up to advise the territory’s authorities and first suggested the cross-border housing scheme, has also been ­lobbying the Hong Kong government to do more closer to home and make facilities for the ­elderly a requirement when it sells land to private developers.

香港安老事務委員會(Elderly Commission)一直在遊說香港政府在更靠近香港本土的地方採取更多舉措，並在出售土地給私營開發商的時候，把爲老年人提供服務設施作爲必要條件。該委員會的宗旨是爲香港當局提供建議，跨境住房供給計劃就是其首先提出的。

Alfred Chan, a gerontologist who is the commission chairman, says the government “has made the guarantee that the same services planned for everyone should remain the same”.

老年學家陳章明(Alfred Chan)是安老事務委員會主席。他表示，香港政府“已經做出保證，計劃向每一個人提供的同等服務將保持不變。”

Most agree that the ­elderly would prefer to grow old closer to home or with family.

大多數人都一致認爲，老年人會傾向於在離家更近的地方或者和家人一起度過晚年。

“It’s the culture to look after the elderly,” says ­Cheung Moon-wah, general manager of elderly services at the Housing Society, a Hong Kong non-governmental organisation. “We don’t want premature institutionalisation.”

非政府組織香港房屋協會(Housing Society)負責長者服務的總經理張滿華(­Cheung Moon-wah)表示：“照顧老年人是我們文化的一部分。我們不想要過於早熟的體制化。”

Meanwhile, the waiting lists for residential care places in Hong Kong grows and the prospects remain stark. “We’re not forcing the elderly to go to Guangdong or the mainland to grow old,” says Ng Hang-sau, chief executive of the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation, which helps the disabled, chronically ill and aged. “This [scheme] just gives one more option to Hong Kong residents.

與此同時，香港養老院舍宿位的等候入住名單卻越來越長，未來的前景依然嚴峻。香港康復會首席執行官伍杏修(Ng Hang-sau)表示：“我們並不是在強迫老年人去廣東或者內地養老。這一計劃僅僅是向香港居民提供了一個新的選擇。”香港康復會主要向殘疾人、慢性病患者以及老年羣體提供幫助。

“[But] if they are number 50 on the waiting list and they choose to come to the mainland, they can get a place quite quickly. If they choose not to, they continue to be number 50 on the list.”

“但如果他們目前在等候名單上排在第50位，而他們選擇前往內地，就能很快得到一個護理宿位。否則，他們仍將只是名單上的第50位。”