“The central government should spare no effort to solve problems
crucial to people’s lives, and more funds should be appropriated to
the healthcare, education and housing sectors,” said Zhang
Guangrui, member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference and former vice director
of the Budget Committee of the Nation People’s Congress Standing
Committee.
Zhang made the remark on Sunday in Beijing in an exclusive
interview with china.org.cn. Zhang is attending the 12-day annual session of the CPPCC National Committee,
which opened in Beijing on Saturday afternoon.
In the case of China’s booming economic development and
fast-growing revenue, more funds should be diverted for social
welfare, Zhang proposed.
“Governments at all levels should undertake the full
responsibility of providing basic healthcare, compulsory education
as well as housing for low-income families,” Zhang said. “Securing
those bread-and-butter needs is essential if we want to achieve a
harmonious society.”
To ensure a continuous flow of funds into to these sectors,
Zhang proposed three measures:
First, healthcare must be true to its original purpose of public
welfare. A medical care network should be set up covering both
urban and rural areas. Reform of existing hospital management and
the medicine pricing system should be implemented as soon as
possible. And, the central government should take full
responsibility for putting more funds towards public health, rural
health care, as well as urban community clinics. Furthermore,
detailed fund commitment of governments at all levels should be
clearly made with fixed proportions, funds should be directly
linked to public finance growth, and the system should ensure
continually rising input to healthcare. The improvement of the
health care infrastructure and medical services is urgent to make
sure it is never too expensive to see a doctor, currently the most
pressing problem.?
Second, public finance should budget more funds to support
compulsory education, vocational education, and aid for students
from families in poverty. Allowance for the poor should cover not
only students in universities and colleges, but also those in
senior high schools and vocational schools.
As for the widening gap between the poor and rich, more funds
are needed to expand financial aid packages. The central government
should give more grants to underdeveloped western China to support
compulsory education, so that the area may avoid new debts for
local governments in financial deficit. Relevant government bodies
should continue their efforts to root out charges of abuse by
schools and carry out practical measures to provide easier access
to schools and ease the financial difficulty of students’
families.?
Third, the housing crisis must be addressed. “The government has
a natural responsibility to secure the housing rights for poor
civilians,” Zhang said. “It’s impossible for everyone to be able to
afford a commercial house, not just in China, but in any country.
My suggestion is, four kinds of houses should be provided,
commercial houses for the rich, economic houses for the middle
class, cheaply-rented houses for the low-income families and
government-rented houses for the poor,” Zhang said.
It should be made clear that the government take the
responsibility of guaranteeing housing for the poor and low-income
families. More cheaply-rented houses should be built and
governments at various level should assume their full share of
responsibility for the regulation and oversight of affordable
housing for local residents and guarantee sufficient supply to cool
down the overheated real estate market.
(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, March 6, 2007)