The Beijing Olympic Games have drawn to a close, yet the Paralympic Games are coming soon. The disabled people are a special social group which needs help and love from every one of us.

Since 2002, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau has been endeavoring to build barrier-free facilities in order that not only the disabled but also the elderly and the weak can move more easily in this city.

Barrier-free facilities, such as blind track and access ramp, refer to the service facilities that are built and placed in public buildings, residential buildings and residential areas as well as on the streets, aiming at providing safe and easy access for the disabled and elderly, patients, children, and other members of the society. Barrier-free facilities in hospital mainly include parking positions for the disabled, ramp, barrier-free washroom, lift with a reachable control panel, lower information desk, telephone accessible to the disabled, lower handrails in the corridor and on the stairs, etc.

As is known to all, major hospitals in Beijing were mostly built in the 1950s ~ 1960s; therefore they lack barrier-free facilities and are very hard to be refitted. During the period 2002 to 2007, municipal hospitals increased their investment in the construction and update of barrier-free facilities and accomplished 50 projects relating to the construction and update of barrier-free emergency centers, medical treatment buildings, etc. So far the hospitals have removed most barriers to the disabled people, providing them with a safe, convenient hospital environment. For instance, unisex wheelchair-accessible toilets bring great convenience to old patients and the disabled persons accompanied by opposite-sex relatives.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games have significantly boosted the construction and update of barrier-free facilities in hospitals. To provide better barrier-free environment for the Olympics and Paralympics, the Beijing municipal government has spent 12 million yuan on the construction and update of barrier-free facilities in the hospitals designated by the BOCOG since 2007. According to primary statistics, these Olympic hospitals have set up 50 barrier-free parking areas, reconstructed 92 access ramps of emergency medical centers and medical treatment buildings, renewed or updated 72 wheelchair lifts, built 80 unisex wheelchair-accessible washrooms and 447 wheel-accessible toilets, and over 2,000 barrier-free direction signboards. Besides, some other accessible facilities, including 91 help desks, 87 low service windows, 42 telephones, have also been provided for the disabled.

Basically, all the designated hospitals have already been equipped with barrier-free facilities. This, together with the personalized services such as voluntary enquiry answering, “whole-process” medical guidance and “green passage”, has given us confidence that the designated hospitals will surely satisfy the basic needs of disabled people and the Paralympics during the Paralympic Games.

After the Paralympics, we will put more stress on the systemization and standardization of the newly-built or re-built barrier-free facilities in accordance with the Regulations on the Construction and Management of Barrier-free Facilities in Beijing. As regards the existing barrier-free facilities, we will further strengthen the routine use, management and maintenance of these facilities to ensure that they can be used sustainably.