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Red Cross considers charging for services
By Cai Wenjun |
September 10, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S Red Cross is considering charging for its services to allow sustainable development of the organization.
Zhao Baige, its executive vice president, said at the weekend: "We are considering to make people, organizations and government to buy our services including medical services, rescue, first aid training and life care services."
Currently, all such services are free and Zhao said current public opinion was that they should remain so.
However, she said: "We should reform, but how to make a reasonable and effective charging standard is a challenge."
Zhao was speaking after an international assessment of the Chinese organization said it suffered from poor management and inefficiency, and an inability to promote itself to the public and educate them about its activities.
Zhao said the organization suffered a major blow after the Guo Meimei scandal in June last year, according to the Beijing News.
The Red Cross came under fire after a woman calling herself Guo Meimei wrote microblogs claiming she worked for an organization under the Red Cross Society of China. Descriptions of her lavish lifestyle, including designer bags and luxury cars, led many people to believe that she had to be embezzling funds.
Though it was later found that the organization Guo claimed to work for did not exist, the incident stirred widespread outrage about the Red Cross, affecting people's willingness to give donations and triggering calls for greater scrutiny over charities.
Donations to the Red Cross fell by 59.4 percent in 2011 from the year before.
Zhao said the Red Cross had asked the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to look into the organization after the incident.
"We should be more transparent and open to the public on its operation and use of donations," Zhao said.
"We will do reform on the organization, renovating its strategy, bettering its structure, establishing a professional service team and inviting neutral people in the society to supervise and evaluate its performance," Zhao told a Red Cross cooperation forum on the Pan-Pacific countries and regions in Beijing.
She also said local government had too much influence on Red Cross branches.
As a public service platform, the Red Cross should have more rights to take decisions by itself, she said.
She said the international assessment said that the Red Cross was good at collecting donations, but "the key is how to have a sustainable development."
Zhao Baige, its executive vice president, said at the weekend: "We are considering to make people, organizations and government to buy our services including medical services, rescue, first aid training and life care services."
Currently, all such services are free and Zhao said current public opinion was that they should remain so.
However, she said: "We should reform, but how to make a reasonable and effective charging standard is a challenge."
Zhao was speaking after an international assessment of the Chinese organization said it suffered from poor management and inefficiency, and an inability to promote itself to the public and educate them about its activities.
Zhao said the organization suffered a major blow after the Guo Meimei scandal in June last year, according to the Beijing News.
The Red Cross came under fire after a woman calling herself Guo Meimei wrote microblogs claiming she worked for an organization under the Red Cross Society of China. Descriptions of her lavish lifestyle, including designer bags and luxury cars, led many people to believe that she had to be embezzling funds.
Though it was later found that the organization Guo claimed to work for did not exist, the incident stirred widespread outrage about the Red Cross, affecting people's willingness to give donations and triggering calls for greater scrutiny over charities.
Donations to the Red Cross fell by 59.4 percent in 2011 from the year before.
Zhao said the Red Cross had asked the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to look into the organization after the incident.
"We should be more transparent and open to the public on its operation and use of donations," Zhao said.
"We will do reform on the organization, renovating its strategy, bettering its structure, establishing a professional service team and inviting neutral people in the society to supervise and evaluate its performance," Zhao told a Red Cross cooperation forum on the Pan-Pacific countries and regions in Beijing.
She also said local government had too much influence on Red Cross branches.
As a public service platform, the Red Cross should have more rights to take decisions by itself, she said.
She said the international assessment said that the Red Cross was good at collecting donations, but "the key is how to have a sustainable development."
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