A succor center for mental patients from outside the city is under construction in the capital of Guangdong Province.

The succor center, the first of its kind in China, will have more than 500 beds. It is expected to start operating after Spring Festival on February 9, 2005.

Pan Yingqiang, director of the Social Welfare Rescue Department under the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, said the new center will aim to offer timely rescue to mental patients as well as rovers and beggars from outside the city.

Medical treatment

Medical treatment will be free, Pan said Tuesday.

The Guangzhou municipal government is considering turning the center into a charitable hospital in a few years.

In years to come, the centre will be equipped with ambulances to help rescue patients in need of emergency medical treatment.

Construction of the succor center, that covers an area of more than 10,000 square meters, is expected to cost more than 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million).

When completed, it will be the largest centre for mental patients in the Chinese mainland.

The centre, the city's rescue station, 110 emergency centers, the protection centre for roving children and the floating rescue centre at the Guangzhou Railway Station, will form a comprehensive succor system for mental patients from outside the city.

Mental patients

"All the mental patients who want to receive medical treatment in the succor center, proved to be mental patients by local psychiatrists, will be approved by the municipal civil affairs bureau," Pan said.

The succor center was built after Guangzhou received a total of 347 mental patients from outside the city between August 1, 2003 and July 25 this year.

The southern Chinese metropolis received the largest number of such mental patients in the country in the past year, said Pan.

After treatment in Guangzhou, 104 of them have returned home, Pan said.

The momentum is likely to continue in coming years due to fierce competition and great employment pressures in Guangdong Province, Pan said.

Many people who come from outside the province are now facing even more difficulties in the province.

(China Daily September 22, 2004)