Guangdong improves family planning aid

The Guangdong Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Wednesday it is going to improve government aid to parents in the province whose only child has passed away or suffers from a permanent disability.

The updated plan include increasing financial aid if healthcare prices rise and giving parents prior access to medical care and services for the elderly. Communities are also required to provide family doctors.

The commission's plan is in response to a proposal by a member of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference this January. Chen Li, the CPPCC member, called for more government attention to parents who have lost their only child or who have a hard time taking care of both their disabled child and themselves.

"There are about 1 million such families and the number is growing at the pace of 76,000 per year. There are about 70,000 to 80,000 such families in Guangdong," Chen estimated. "Most of these parents were born in the 1950s and the 1960s and became the first to have only one child in the 1980s to support the country's family planning policy. After the unfortunate happened to their children, they are now suffering from loneliness and more problems brought upon by their old age."