The China Brilliance Holding Co. Ltd. on Tuesday donated 10 million yuan(US$1.21 million) to set up a Brilliance Charity Medicare Fund, together with the Shanghai Charitable Trust, to help poverty-stricken elderly people in the city.
People over 60 years old make up 20 percent of the population of the largest financial center in China. Many of them do not have the protection of social medical insurance.
The trust sponsored a charitable project last year, which provides an annual fund of five million yuan(US$604,836) to help the needy elderly people. Under the project, an elderly person can obtain 500 yuan(US$60.48) from the fund for a health examination in appointed hospitals every year.
Under the project, over 200 medical centers in the city have opened the service to 10,000 elderly people. The Brilliance fund will be used to facilitate the project. The fund now calls for more companies to join and help the cause.
(People's Daily January 16, 2002)