Oct 17, 2015 marks China’s second poverty alleviation day. The China Population Welfare Foundation held a donation ceremony in Beijing on Oct 19 under the guidance of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Wang Pei’an, vice minister of the commission and other officials attended the ceremony, and He Jinguo, ombudsman of the commission’s finance department, delivered a speech.

   

The ceremony reviewed the charity program and praised 15 donating units and 22 individual donors. A total of 100 million yuan was raised on the spot. Six budget-controlled hospitals, including the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Xiang-Ya Hospital of Central Southern University, donated 18 million yuan.The ceremony also launched a program to subsidize 10,000 rural doctors, and set plans to send 77 million yuan of medical equipment to hospitals in need.

In 2013, NHFPC commissioned the foundation to carry out charity work in the Lvliang Mountain area, offering assistance, medical subsidies and pension service for needy families. It also offered free treatment for children with congenital heart disease. Community-level doctor training was carried out, medical equipment was sent, and funds received more social support thanks to the program. More than 90 million yuan was put in over the past two years. The program assisted 896 people with critical diseases and gave medical subsidies to an additional 1,375. A total of 1,285 clinicians were sent to support seven medical institutes in poor counties, bringing benefits to roughly 24,174 people.

Officials from NHFPC and medical bodies in Shanxi, Jilin, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi also attended.