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More Respect for Our Elders
By: Unknown
Many old people across
the country have benefited from a national project to assist the elderly. About 15,000
impoverished elderly people have received subsidies and have been lifted
out of poverty, sources with the National Project to Assist the Elderly
said yesterday. Initiated in September
1996 by the China National Committee on the Elderly and the China Elderly
Fund, the project is a response to the challenges posed by China's aging
population. The project also helped
some communities in Beijing, Sichuan and Shandong provinces to establish
communication networks, said Gao Wei, an official with the general office
of the project. Thanks to the services
provided by these networks, old people can receive any help they need at
home by calling a special hotline. The office has also
launched the nationwide "Health Care Plan" for the elderly. Thanks to the medicine
and medical facilities donated by organizations and the public, old people
in some rural regions now receive free health care, and in cities, those
elderly people with common diseases can obtain a physical examination and
treatment free of charge or at a reduced rate. Due to the economic
imbalance among different regions in China, there are some 5 million
impoverished elderly people in the country, a source with the China
National Committee on the Elderly said. The source also said
that there are 126 million people in China who are above 60, 80 per cent
of whom live in the countryside. "The aging
problem is serious in China, and we need to solicit as much support as
possible from the public," said Gao. |
