A senior receives care service at home in Chongqing, southwest China, Dec. 2, 2021. (Photo/Xinhua)
Chongqing - Improving people's living standards remains a priority for China's government work this year. During the two sessions, National People's Congress (NPC) deputies and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from Southwest China's Chongqing have presented their suggestions to further enhance the well-being of residents in the city.
"Employment is the most important issue for people's livelihoods!" said Li Yong, a CPPCC National Committee member and Secretary of the CPC Fuling District Committee in Chongqing.
Currently, Fuling District is dealing with employment issues with a focus on integrating the four aspects of professional training, industries, employment, and entrepreneurship. It has crafted a full-chain employment ecosystem combining policies, services, and innovation.
Fuling District's 352 industrial enterprises above the designated size have provided over 100,000 job opportunities. Additionally, through the local talent attraction event, a large number of in-demand talents have been brought in.
In terms of professional alignment, Fuling District promotes higher education programs that are closely aligned with industrial structures. For entrepreneurship support, Fuling District has innovated the "enterprises raise questions, universities provide solutions, and government offers assistance" model, incubating over 500 projects.
"Stabilizing employment requires focusing on key groups," said Li. For example, through the implementation of Chongqing's action plan to attract college graduates and youth talent, more than 7,800 young people have settled in Fuling. For rural laborers, support services include over 20 employment service stations, 3 municiple-level migrant workers' entrepreneurship parks, all working together to promote the employment of 210,000 migrant workers nearby.
At the same time, in Fuling, nearly 2,000 people have been supported by placement in public welfare jobs, 13 supporting workshops have absorbed over 300 local workers, and more than 10,000 people enjoy cross-regional transportation subsidies, with zero-unemployment households being dynamically cleared.
In Li's view, employment services must not only be fast but also accurate. To this end, Fuling District has attracted 670 enterprises to join the "Yuzhipin" platform. Additionally, 115 recruitment events have been organized, resulting in 24,000 job recommendations and over 5,600 successful employment intentions.
Li is also concerned with the employment issues of new employment groups.
Li believed that new employment groups are like a fresh breeze, bringing innovative thinking and flexible employment methods, becoming a significant force in driving high-quality economic and social development.
He suggested that policies for new employment groups should be further enhanced in terms of inclusivity and flexibility. Specifically, he recommended deepening the governance model for new employment groups, exploring a collective bargaining mechanism for new employment sectors, and further enhancing digital intelligence. This would guide platform companies in data sharing and verification, ensuring interconnectivity of key information such as employment data, salary payments, and social security contributions, thus supporting industry supervision and creating a collaborative governance model involving the government, platforms, and new employment group.
Additionally, Li emphasized the need to improve the labor protection system for new employment groups, set clear minimum standards for platform companies' labor practices, standardize labor remuneration calculations, payments, and dispute resolution processes, explore cross-platform cumulative benefits, and expand the pilot program for occupational injury insurance to bring more warmth to people's livelihoods.
Lastly, Li advocated for enhancing the accessibility of employment services for new employment groups. He called for the standardized construction of grassroots employment service institutions and the creation of a "15-minute employment service circle." Moreover, AI technology should be explored for use in aspects like interpreting employment policies and service matching to more accurately meet the dynamic needs of new employment groups, such as ride-hailing drivers, food delivery workers, and couriers.
As a community worker with over 20 years of grassroots experience, Fu Shanxiang, an NPC deputy and Party Secretary of the Xianglushan Community in Wuqiao Subdistrict, Wanzhou District in Chongqing understood the needs of the elderly.
"Elderly care is not only a family responsibility but also a societal issue," he said. Fu and his team have worked with district-level departments to create a community pocket park, which not only added fitness equipment, a square, and a badminton court, but also implemented detailed modifications like anti-slip tiles and the addition of convenient handrails, making the community a safe and comfortable "living circle" for seniors.
One of the highlights of community management is the collaboration among the leaders responsible for areas such as community, building, and property services and the regular visits of elderly residents living alone.
"Elderly care is not only about material needs but also about mental well-being," Fu explained. His community organizes 18 themed events throughout the year, including celebrations for traditional holidays, health seminars, and legal consultations.
As an NPC deputy, Fu has turned his grassroots experience into policy suggestions. At this year's two sessions, he proposed the creation of a "Five-in-One" urban-rural basic elderly care system, including family responsibility, policy regulation, government guidance, social services, and volunteer support. "The family is the primary responsible party for elderly care, but the government and society must provide support," he emphasized.
How can elderly care services be further improved? Fu suggested that, firstly, the virtue of filial piety should be promoted, and the family's primary responsibility in elderly care should be clarified. Secondly, improving public service facilities and fully advancing the construction of town and rural elderly care centers and village mutual aid elderly care points to ensure comprehensive coverage of elderly care services in urban and rural communities. Thirdly, encouraging qualified property companies to cooperate with the government and explore the "property service + life service" model, offering services such as daytime care, medical care, cultural entertainment, mental comfort, and health management to meet the more refined and diverse elderly care needs of residents.
In addition, volunteer forces should be leveraged, and community social organizations should be better integrated to form a volunteer service network, improving the efficiency of elderly care services.
"The smile of the elderly is the best recognition of our work," Fu believed. For him, the ultimate goal of elderly care is to ensure that every elderly person can live a dignified and happy life. "This is not the end; it is a new beginning."
"The da Vinci surgical robot can already perform precise operations; why can’t AI become a ‘super assistant’ for pediatricians?" Faced with the wave of artificial intelligence, Li Qiu, an NPC deputy and professor at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, has chosen not to wait and watch, but to embrace it.
Li believed that "AI is not here to replace doctors, but to amplify their abilities," such as using 3D modeling to rehearse high-risk surgeries or leveraging big data to decode the mysteries of rare diseases.
She explained that traditional surgical plans for children with complex congenital heart disease rely heavily on the doctor’s experience and carry high risks. Now, after inputting the child's imaging data, AI can automatically generate a heart model and simulate the prognosis of different surgical paths. "It's like giving the doctor a 'time machine' that can avoid 80 percent of intraoperative risks in advance."
For those children suffering from rare diseases, AI is opening a window of hope. Li said that by utilizing massive amounts of clinical data, AI can quickly compare genetic mutation sites, shortening the diagnostic time from months to a week. "It allows us to see the undiscovered disease codes."
Li’s proposals have consistently focused on the most vulnerable groups. This year, at the two sessions, she once again voiced concerns about rare diseases and mental health in children.
"In China, there are over 20 million patients with rare diseases, with more than 200,000 new cases each year. Among them, about 70 percent of rare disease patients are children, and about 30 percent of these children do not live beyond five years of age. Approximately 90 percent of childhood rare diseases are genetic." She called for increased efforts in the research and production of rare disease medications for children, as well as improvements to the pediatric medication guarantee system.
This includes extending patent protection to encourage pharmaceutical companies to dare to innovate, providing tax incentives and special funds to make production more viable, and dynamically adjusting the medical insurance catalog to ensure that children can afford the treatment, Li added.
In the field of mental health for disadvantaged and left-behind children, Li observed that many psychological problems are often misunderstood as "rebellious." By the time they are identified, they have already developed into severe conditions.
She advocated for the establishment of a unified national psychological screening standard, with dedicated school psychologists in both urban and rural areas. She also proposes a special fund to ensure that children with serious conditions receive necessary support. "Mental health is not a luxury, but a basic right in the process of growing up."
(Chongqing Daily contributed to this report.)
By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.
For any inquiries, please email service@ichongqing.info