Elderly citizens' interests come before those of government staff

A man from a social welfare center for the aged in Guiyang, Guizhou province, washes the feet of 87-year-old Cai Sifen. China is in great need of nursing home beds and professional caretakers for the elderly. [Photo by Qiao Qiming/For China Daily]

THIS YEAR, all the elderly residents in Qinhuangdao in North China's Hebei province are entitled to an old-age allowance. However, some communities only issued a notice about paying the money via social media, which many elder residents don't use. Do not turn a good policy into a joke that's not funny, says a column on gwm.cn:

During an interview, the management at one local community responded that there are 177 elderly residents in their community, and it would take much time and energy for them to call each of them to inform them of the allowance. It seems the local community staff, whose wages are paid by taxpayers, forget their job responsibilities and are ready to sacrifice the interests of those they are meant to serve for their own interests and convenience.

According to the law, the elderly are entitled to the allowance. The law does not say it explicitly, but it is thus an obligation for government departments to make sure the aged receive their entitlement. The staff's action is improper because it prevents some or all of the elderly residents in the community from receiving their allowances.

Worse, reports show that when some seniors said they do not use social media, the staff said: "Seek help from you grandson!" That's rather cold and impolite, and certainly inappropriate for government staff. All these activities of the local government staff involve violations of the disciplines that apply to them as holders of government jobs, they may even be illegal activities, which calls for disciplinary action against them.

After the media reports, the local community staff said that when certain seniors have special needs they could call them. This is a pale excuse instead of sincere correction of their wrongdoings.

China has an aging society, and residents aged 60 or above now account for 15.5 percent of the whole population. The law is improving and requires the State to provide more and better social welfare for the elderly, while the top leadership has been making policies for that purpose. These policies are good, but bad implementation makes them rather ineffective.

It is high time that authorities corrected the wrongdoings of government employees so that good policies truly benefit the people they are meant to.