Beijing Jingcheng Boai Rehabilitation Hospital, a private entity, recently tied up with China Primary Health Care Foundation, a non-government organization, to raise funds for people who cannot afford rehabilitation care. Called the Boai Rehabilitation Fund, the initiative, collected 1 million yuan ($161,400) upon its launch on Sunday.

The money would be used to help low-income patients by creating awareness about post-treatment rehabilitation among such families and communities, and also be spent on scientific research, according to the hospital.

The hospital also promised to remit rehabilitation care costs of some 200 physically challenged people.

According to the latest government statistics, there are 85 million people living with disabilities in China by the end of 2010, with 25 million in severe condition, and about 70 percent of that population in need of constant rehabilitation care.

Yet, China has limited resources in this field. There are only about 1.18 percent of rehabilitation beds among the number of total beds across healthcare facilities in the country, and in most cases, only top hospitals are capable of providing rehabilitation care to patients.

Established medical experts, including cardiovascular disease specialist Hong Shaoguang, who is with Anzhen Hospital, told a seminar on Sunday that the lack of quality rehabilitation care is leading to cases of relapse or aggravation of serious health issues among elderly Chinese.

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