(260227) -- SHANGHAI, Feb. 27, 2026 (Xinhua) -- A sign for "companion-free" care services is displayed on an inpatient status screen at a hospital in Shanghai, east China, Feb. 26, 2026. China's hospitals are piloting "companion-free" care services to ease the heavy burden of daily care-giving on the inpatients' families.
The new mode of operation requires hosting hospitals to directly employ trained nursing assistants to provide 24-hour non-medical care for inpatients with particular needs.
Such services used to rely solely on family members of the inpatients or private caregivers they hire. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)
