Disabled Chinese children benefit from govt-led rehab scheme

A hearing-impaired child patient attends an aural and speech rehabilitation course at a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities in Jishou of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Central China's Hunan province, Oct 15, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Disabled children in China have received 676,000 rehabilitation services from a government-led relief scheme since 2018, the China Disabled Persons' Federation said Tuesday.

Rolled out three years ago and dedicated to children with disabilities, the scheme has seen an year-on-year increase in the number of kids acquiring such relief, according to the federation.

So far, China has tasked more than 3,200 institutions with processing the applications of children in need and designated 8,000 to provide rehabilitation services.

It has become a nationwide scheme indeed, said the federation.

Local governments above the county level are required to render rehabilitation relief to children aged six or younger with disabilities related to eyesight, hearing, language, limbs or intelligence, as well as autism, according to an official document released in June 2018.

The target is to help them reduce dysfunction, acquire self-care skills and participate more in social activities, added the document.

The expenditure has been partly paid by local governments and subsidized by the central government.

Childhood is considered a prime time to recover from disabilities. Early detection, diagnosis and intervention can bring conspicuous improvement in the functioning of organs.