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Guangzhou sets up centre for mental patients
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-22 02:16
A succour centre for mental patients from outside the city is under
construction in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The succour centre, 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 centre will aim to
offer timely rescue to mental patients as well as rovers and beggars from
outside the city.
And medical treatment will be free, Pan said yesterday.
The Guangzhou municipal government is considering turning the centre 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 succour centre, that covers an area of more than 10,000
square metres, 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 centres, the protection
centre for roving children and the floating rescue centre at the Guangzhou
Railway Station, will form a comprehensive succour system for mental patients
from outside the city.
"All the mental patients who want to receive medical treatment in the succour
centre, proved to be mental patients by local psychiatrists, will be approved by
the municipal civil affairs bureau," Pan said.
The succour centre was built after Guangzhou received a total of 347 mental
patients from outside the city between August 1 of 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 the 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.
In another development, the Shenzhen city government is planning to create
more job opportunities for the city's rovers and beggars.
The city's beggars and rovers will be offered job opportunities in cleaning
local streets, public toilets, recycling rubbish and other related work.
The aim of the plan is to help beggars and rovers earn basic living expenses
and quit begging.
The Shenzhen government is moving to prevent begging from becoming a
profession in the city.
Meanwhile the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs is now considering
setting up files for all the beggars and rovers from outside the city in the
near future.
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