A medical aid project aimed at helping millions of
poverty-stricken people across the country kicked off in Beijing on
Monday.
The project will improve the medical treatment in nearly 600
major poverty-stricken counties, benefiting 200 million people in
those areas, said He Daofeng, vice president of the China
Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA).
The General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in
Beijing and the CFPA will jointly carry out this project over the
next five years, he said.
According to the project, the General Hospital of PLA will
provide medical education and training of medical workers for 100
hospitals in those poor counties, and send two teams of medical
experts per year to the countryside.
About 10,000 medical workers from 300 county-level hospitals
will receive training in five years, the project said.
A national health service survey found that nearly 30 percent of
rural residents in China's vast western region return to poverty
because of disease.
In 2002, the CFPA initiated the medical aid campaign for poor
people. It has invested more than 100 million yuan (some US$12
million) in poverty reduction projects in the past four years.
(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2006)