China's rehabilitation system for children with disabilities was implemented in October last year, and it has made great progress since then with nearly 7,000 rehabilitation service institutions established, said Jia Yong, vice president of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, on June 1, International Children's Day.
Based on the second National Disabled Persons Sampling Survey, it is calculated that China has more than 1.6 million children with disabilities aged from 0 to 6 years old, and the number increases by more than 200,000 every year, said Jia.
Since the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), children with disabilities in China have received more than 600,000 person-time basic rehabilitation services, including deaf children's hearing-impaired and speech rehabilitation training, physically disabled children's correction surgery and rehabilitation training, and autistic children's rehabilitation.
According to Jia, as of now, China has established different forms of rehabilitation and relief for disabled children in Beijing and Shanghai, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong, Fujian, Yunnan provinces and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. In the future these provincial rehabilitation relief systems will be adjusted to be in accordance with a unified national rehabilitation relief system for disabled children.