SOCIETY

Rising Medical Costs

Medical fees for both inpatient and outpatient services have risen rapidly over the past six years, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on May 8.

The figures show that average outpatient expenditure rose to 4,669 yuan in 2006, an increase of 44 percent from 2001.

Outpatient medical fees averaged 129 yuan per person in 2006, rising by 7-9 percent annually since 2001, according to the MOH. Over the same period, average inpatient prescription costs fell to 1,922 yuan, accounting for 41 percent of the total cost of medical fees.

China is trying to provide its rural areas with a new healthcare system in a bid to improve standards in the impoverished countryside.

Mine Tragedy Latest

Twelve people connected with a deadly gas blast accident in Puxian County, north China’s Shanxi Province, have been brought under police control, said local police on May 9.

Hao Yingjie, owner of the coalmine, was caught in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, after fleeing from the scene of the accident.

A safety inspector with Puxian County’s coal mining administration is still on the run, police said.

The accident, which killed 28 miners, occurred around 1:50 p.m. on May 5 at Pudeng Coalmine in Puxian County where 125 miners were working.

Still Golden

Difficulty in getting train and plane tickets is no reason for abolishing Golden Week holidays, according to Zhang Xiqin, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration.

“Official holidays could be prolonged. Another possibility would be to link them to other traditional festivals,” the official added.

Chinese travelers spent a whopping 73.6 billion yuan during the weeklong Labor Day holiday. A total of 179 million people went on tour, up 26 percent on last year.

Zhang said the statistics show that Golden Week holidays benefit people’s lives and promote domestic consumption, which is in line with the Central Government’s strategy to rebalance the economy.

Smaller Playground

Places in China for children to play safely and happily are shrinking, according to a national survey recently conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center.

About 53 percent of the 2,500 primary and middle school students responding to the survey said their homes were their constant play sites, while 45 percent of the respondents said they often played around residential areas or in parks.

The respondents, who come from six major cities in China, also chose schools and classmates’ homes among their main play sites. Nineteen percent of students surveyed said they seldom did sports because “there are no appropriate sports sites.”

“Children often play at home because they have few other choices,” said one of the survey organizers Wang Xiaobo, an associate researcher with the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences.

Phony Reporter in Jail

A Chinese man who passed himself off as an editor and reporter of People’s Daily, one of China’s leading newspapers, has been convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life in prison.

Liu Yonghong extorted a total of 3.79 million yuan by claiming that, as a senior People’s Daily reporter, he could use his influence to secure official posts, such as promotions or work transfers, according to the ruling of the No.2 Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing, released on May 9.

Court documents showed Liu, with two accomplices, extorted 3.68 million yuan from a victim surnamed Zhu from March 2002 to September 2003. The three had previously extorted 110,000 yuan from two other victims in the late 1990s and in 2002, the court said.