“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)