The death of an autistic teenager at a care center has triggered nationwide debate and a top-level administrative move to conduct tighter checks on such service providers.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday it has issued an urgent circular ordering nationwide inspections of care services provided by the government or outsourced to the private sector.
Civil affairs authorities at all levels should check the qualifications, facilities, services and safety management of all care services entrusted by the government, the document said.
It also called for the immediate termination of services that do not pass inspection, as well as proper arrangements for those receiving care from such services. Those violating laws and regulations will be held accountable and subject to strict punishment.
The move came amid heated discussion of the death of Lei Wenfeng, a 15-year-old who got lost and stayed more than a month in the Lianxi care agency in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, before he died in December. Local authorities have not disclosed the cause of death, but they said the case was being investigated.
The person in charge of the center has been detained for further investigation, according to China Central Television.
Twenty people died in the center, which cares for people of all ages, during a 49-day period in January and February, Beijing News reported.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Civil Affairs said the local government is looking into the exact number of deaths at the Lianxi center as well as the causes and will publish the investigation report "without delay".
Yue Jinglun, a public affairs professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, said the government should reconsider what kinds of public services should be outsourced.
"Not every penny spent by the government should be efficiency-driven," he said.
"The shelter service and similar services, for many underdogs, are essentially the last resort. Some social responsibilities are better assumed by the government."
Yue added that if the government deemed a certain service fit to be outsourced to a third party, it should figure out ways to follow up on the project - such as sending regular or random inspection teams, keeping track of the money spent and setting up pragmatic standards that can be evaluated - to make sure the entrusted organizations are doing their job properly.
"When it involves life, freedom and security, fairness trumps efficiency," Yue said.
"It takes professionals with good hearts to fulfill such missions. Not every NGO qualifies."
Dou Yixin, founder of the Quiet Whisperers' Community, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to helping children with autism, said parents could do more to prevent such tragedies.
"A simple location tracking device will help a lot. At least you will know where your child is. It costs little," he said.
"I've repeated this suggestion time and again to many parents, but their first response would be, 'Oh, my child will feel uncomfortable wearing it' or 'The tracker must be radioactive'.
"I saw more than 100 cases of lost autistic children in my friends' circle in just a year, yet the parents just don't realize how much a simple change can help."
Dou said that in 2011, his center received nine children with autism from a foster care agency in Shanxi province.
At that time, he used his own money to run the center and provided everything for free.
When the children arrived, he said, "they were starved to basically a bag of bones. ... They needed my free professional skills to take care of the kids. After half a year, they gained much weight and became more relaxed and happy."
