Apps that let users hire nurses for home visits spark heated debate in China

Netizens skeptical about safety

Apps

Xinmei Shen

Published: 6:45pm, 5 Jun 2018

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This article originally appeared on ABACUS

From rental pets to 24-hour couriers, it seems like you can hire pretty much anything through apps these days. Now there’s one more: Home nurses.

Didi Nurse (no relation to Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing giant) is one of many recent apps which let users request home visits from nurses working at nearby hospitals.

Nurses registered on these platforms offer a range of basic at-home medical services, including intravenous infusions, dressing changes and postoperative care. One app also provides home visits from doctors, which can cost up to US$200.

Homeincare, the highest ranking among these apps on China’s iOS App Store, says it has more than 43,000 registered nurses in over 330 cities.

The apps are gaining traction after some Chinese media dub them as “nurse sharing”, but a lot of people are skeptical.

One user on Weibo commented on a news report about the service, saying: “How do you supervise the quality and safety of the services? And how do you ensure the nurses’ safety?” Others also wondered who would be responsible in case of emergency.

One Weibo user who claims to have worked as a nurse on Homeincare says that the app took a major cut from the fee and she ended up receiving only a small amount for half a day’s work. Homeincare declined to comment on the user’s claim.

Healthcare services are in high demand in China as the country copes with a rapidly aging population. Its largest online healthcare and medical platform -- Ping An Good Doctor -- has nearly 193 million registered users.

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