Public welfare has become the new priority and buzzword among local government officials
　　
　　Around mid-January, when the whole nation was looking forward to celebrating China’s traditional Spring Festival, local people’s congresses and people’s political consultative conferences were busy holding their annual sessions. And in March, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will hold their annual sessions.
　　China observers usually term this period the “political season,” as key political events and reshuffles of top government officials are common. The sessions, both national and local, are receiving even more attention this year as the draft of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) for national economic and social development will be tabled for deliberation at the upcoming NPC session, slated to begin on March 5.
　　The public welfare and livelihood of citizens became the priority of this year’s local sessions. Medicare, housing, education, employment, transportation and the environment were the hot topics among the delegates.
　　While the heads of schools in economically developed cities are making decisions on the number of computers and multimedia teaching aids to be added, their counterparts in underdeveloped areas are worrying about how to repair the leaking roofs of classrooms so that students won’t freeze in winter, said Liu Zhongkui, a member of the CPPCC Gansu Provincial Committee.
　　 “The distribution of educational resources is so unfair,” Liu added.
　　He suggested the government increase its input in education, especially in remote border counties and regions inhabited by ethnic groups. In that way, the enormous gap between urban and rural areas can be bridged, he said.
　　
　　According to a report released in early February by Horizon Market Research, a well-known independent market research company in China, education-related expenses became the primary factor leading to poverty for both urban dwellers and rural farmers in 2005. About 40-50 percent of poor people in cities, small towns and rural areas said they are poor because they have children in school. In rural areas in particular, education represents the top expenditure for families.
　　Experts at the research firm concluded that the root of poverty lies in a lack of education. Because poor people can’t afford costly schooling, their lack of knowledge and skills hamper their ability to improve their income.
　　The report also says medical costs are the second largest burden on poor families. This is particularly obvious in the countryside. About 25 percent of poor people said they are poor because of illness in their families. Statistics of the Development and Research Center under the State Council show that the average cost of a serious illness is about 7,000 yuan at present in China, compared with the net yearly per-capita income of 3,255 yuan in rural areas.
　　
　　To address the problem of expensive medical treatment, the Ministry of Health put forward a series of new measures, including establishing hospitals that are affordable for ordinary citizens. These measures were heatedly discussed at sessions of local people’s congresses and CPPCC committees.
　　Zhao Huaitang, a deputy to the People’s Congress of Shanxi Province, found that the current prices for medicines in hospitals are much higher than in drugstores because they are set by the government through its public-bidding purchasing system. Therefore, he suggested the “affordable” hospitals that are promoted by the Ministry of Health and many local governments purchase medicines directly from pharmaceutical companies in order to reduce costs and lower the price.
　　In addition, a lack of government funding has led to a difficult financial situation for many county hospitals, with some even going bankrupt. And few patients want to go to those poorly equipped hospitals. Zhao, believing that county hospitals are able to provide services for most patients with common diseases, suggested local governments transform county hospitals into affordable ones, so they can offer medical services for ordinary patients.
　　A member of the CPPCC Gansu Provincial Committee said the affordable hospitals should not be profit-oriented, and they must separate hospital operations from the sale of medicines and lower their drug prices. Meanwhile, they should target laid-off workers, retirees and migrant workers as patients.
　　Since issues relating to public welfare have become the focus of attention, top local government officials have shifted their work priorities to this area.
　　Governor Li Chengyu of Henan Province said in his report on the 11th Five-Year Plan that more attention will be focused on public welfare. Experts noticed that about one third of his report dealt with this issue or related topics.
　　While delivering a draft report on Beijing’s 11th Five-Year Plan at the annual session of the People’s Congress of Beijing Municipality, Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan said the municipal government would in the next five years work hard to check the skyrocketing cost of medical treatment and make medicare accessible and affordable for ordinary citizens. Meanwhile, primary and middle school students in Beijing will be exempted from miscellaneous fees and textbook fees.
　　In addition, the per-capita net income of Beijing farmers is expected to reach 10,000 yuan by 2010. And more funds will be put into the development of rural areas, including education, health, culture and family planning.
　　Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said the priorities of the next five years will be given to dealing with the problems that concern the public the most.
　　Luo Qingquan, Governor of Hubei Province, said his province would spend 3 billion yuan this year to assist people in need, including subsidizing rural poor students, reducing medical costs and helping urban poor families.
　　One factor worth noting is that more channels are available for the public to communicate with deputies to people’s congresses at all levels and members of CPPCC committees. For example, some deputies offer work progress reports on their blogs and discuss hot topics with ordinary citizens and students. In some cities, interactive forms of communication with people’s congress deputies are available via the Internet, and proposals from ordinary citizens are solicited online.
　　During this year’s sessions of local people’s congresses and CPPCC committees, local governments gave much less prominence to data on economic growth, which used to be the key issue in previous annual sessions. Nowadays, public welfare is at the top of the work agenda for local governments, highlighting the change in China’s political life.

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