After intensive treatment at the hospital, the 63-year-old woman regained consciousness, but remained unable to go about on her own. She needed the assistance of her husband or son every time she had to go back to the hospital for her follow-up treatment.

"My husband was getting older and his health was not good. My son was busy with work and daily care was a big problem for me. I felt like I was a burden for my family," said Guo.

Fortunately, things started getting better for Guo in 2016, and her health gradually improved. She owes much of this positive turnaround to Yang Hui, a student at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and a registered nurse on Yihu365.com, the first online platform in China to provide in-home nursing services.

"With a platform like Yihu365, where nurses visit our home to provide services, I am spared from the troubles of going to the hospital whenever I need an infusion therapy or a change in medication prescription. Nurses who work in nearby hospitals can come and see me after work, which has really been convenient, cost-saving and carefree," Guo told ChinAfrica.

Visiting nurse

Guo is not alone. According to the Office of the National Working Committee on Aging, the number of elderly people above 60 years old in China reached over 220 million in 2015, with 40 million of them being disabled or semi-disabled. Having injections at home is a service demanded by plenty of elderly patients in China who have difficulties getting about. Nevertheless, public and community hospitals often don't provide such service due to insufficient workforce and the high costs involved.

In response, the Yihu365 mobile application was released on December 22, 2015, which is a mobile Internet service platform dedicated to medical care, with at-home injections provided by visiting nurses as its main service.

"It normally takes 10 minutes for a professional nurse to process urinary catheterization for an elder. But community hospitals usually don't provide visiting nurse services, so the patient's family has to call an emergency ambulance and send the patient to an hospital, and then bring the patient back once the urinary catheterization is done," said Wei Guilei, co-founder of Yihu365.

At the moment, Yihu365 provides professional medical services such as injection, infusion, blood collection, urinary catheterization and nasal feeding, with prices ranging from 100 yuan to 200 yuan ($15 to $30) per home visit, which is somewhat higher than hospital fees and may pose an additional burden on target patients.

With this in mind, the Beijing Municipal Health and Family Planning Department issued a notice in 2016. The notice said the expenses of in-home medical services could be reimbursed if they conform to medical insurance regulations. This could largely ease the burden of patients who are in need of such services.

Currently, the services are available in places like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and other provinces and cities will follow soon.