Social Stability - 104. page

People’s Daily reported that medical doctors in China feel they are not well respected, their workloads are heavy, and they are not well compensated. According to a recent survey that the Peking Union Medical College School of Public Health released, over 60 percent of the medical doctors feel overloaded with work, they lack recognition, and their compensation is inadequate. The survey showed that over 40 percent of the doctors work over 10 hours a day and only 33.6 percent feel they have enough sleep at night. Only 46.7 percent feel that they are in relatively good health. Last year only 40.6 percent of the doctors took all of the vacation days to which they were entitled and 38.5 percent of the medical staff felt that their profession was being recognized and respected.

Source: People’s Daily, April 11, 2016
http://society.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0411/c1008-28264407.html

On April 2, which was the 9th World Autism Day, Xinhua published an article which stated that there are 1.6 million autistic children in China. According to the article China still doesn’t have an effective autism treatment system and each of the existing treatment centers uses different approaches to treat its patients. The article said that the burden of treating autistic children is still carried by the parents and China has an urgent need to regulate the treatment of autism to better serve these autistic children.

Source: Xinhua, April 2, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2016-04/02/c_1118518857.htm

China.com carried an article which China Youth Daily had originally published. According to the article, by June 2015, the number of registered drug users in China had reached 3.2 million. Of these, 1.8 million or 58.4 percent were under the age of 35. The article pointed out that, in addition to the traditional drugs, many new types of psychoactive substances are on the rise while preventive education is lacking among China’s youth.

Source: China.com, March 20, 2016
http://guoqing.china.com.cn/2016-03/20/content_38068570.htm

Radio Free Asia recently published an article on registering cell phones. According to the article, six months ago, Guangdong Province instituted requirements for all cell phone users to register their cell phones using thier real names. Since then, people still have not completed the real name registration process. Recently three telecommunication companies in Guangdong Province issued a last notice warning its customers, giving them a deadline of March 30. Those who haven’t registered their cell phones using their real names before that date will have their cell phone numbers disabled.

RFA quoted interviews with citizens inside China. Some stated that the cell number registration is really meant to limit freedom of speech online. One person told RFA that he received many random sales calls on his cell phone because the telecommunication companies sell their database for money. Another person told RFA that the authorities use public security as the excuse but their real intent is to control and monitor different opinions. According to the article, cell phone real name registration was launched in Xinjiang and Tibet several years ago. “This is an indication that China’s Human Rights has taken a step backwards. One rights activist in Inner Mongolia told RFA, "We are calling on the international community to pay attention to this matter.” 

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 12, 2016
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/ql2-03122016092151.html

VOA published an article that reported about a Xinhua journalist who recently published an open letter on his microblog account on Sina criticizing Chinese Internet management agencies because they violated citizens’ basic rights of freedom of speech when they deleted online posts or shut down microblog accounts. The open letter stated, "They have violated the basic rights of freedom of speech and press that the Constitution protects. According to VOA, even though the open letter has been deleted from the Internet sites in China, the news media overseas have already picked it up. The article said that this is the second instance in which the people inside the Chinese media system stood up to express dissatisfaction with the Chinese authorities’ suppression of freedom of speech and of the press. The last open letter was published in Caixin after the Internet surveillance department deleted one of its articles. The open letter also demanded a full investigation of media attacks against Ren Zhiqiang, a Chinese businessman for his concerns about why the media should be loyal to the Party.

According to VOA, the handling of Ren Zhiqiang’s case and the open letter suggest that major differences and a power struggle exist inside the top leadership, especially between the Publicity Department and the Central Discipline Inspection Commission.

Source: VOA, March 11, 2016
http://www.voachinese.com/content/xinhua-journalist-internet-regulators-20160311/3232956.html