Report finds 88% coverage rate in rehab services for disabled in 2019

More than 8.1 million disabled Chinese received subsidized rehabilitative services in 2019, ranging from artificial cochlea implantation for the hearing-impaired to psychological consultations for people with intellectual disabilities, a report said.

The number translates to a coverage rate of more than 88 percent among communities in need of such services, said a work report delivered at the Sixth National Congress of the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, which opened in Beijing on Nov 16.

The percentage was calculated based on a national database of disabled people who need physical rehabilitation, the report made by the association's executive vice-president, Xu Xiaoming, said.

China originally set the coverage target to be reached at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2015-20) at 80 percent, as part of a broader effort to build China into a "moderately prosperous society in all aspects", which requires improved welfare among the nation's 85 million disabled population.

The association is a national nonprofit organization formed by rehabilitative professionals, led by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and overseen by the Ministry of Civil Affairs as a nongovernmental group.