People with mental health problems in Guangzhou will get better care and treatment from next year, as a pilot medical scheme is rolled out across a wider area of the city.

Since last year, more than 1,500 people in the Tianhe and Huangpu districts have benefited from a program run by the Guangzhou Brain Hospital and local communities to provide integrated prevention and rehabilitation treatments, Zhao Zhenhuan, director of the hospital, said on Monday.

"We now plan to expand the program to six other districts," he said.

The hospital will maintain medical records for all people involved in the scheme and also strive to build close relationships with their families and communities, he said.

Anyone who is in need of help will be able to get it, he said.

According to figures from the hospital, Guangzhou has about 70,000 people with mental health problems.

Because of their unstable mental condition, and the lack of a proper support system, some mentally ill people can become violent, and this has had devastating consequences, Zhao said.

In May of last year, five cases of physical assault instigated by people with mental health problems were reported in a single week, the Disabled People's Federation of Guangzhou, said.

Three people were killed in the incidents, and 15 others were injured, most of them family members, it said.

"The care scheme can help reduce and even prevent such attacks," Zhao said.

The federation has also appealed to the municipal government to require all hospitals to provide free outpatient care to people with mental health problems.

Speaking earlier in the year, Liang Ju, director of the federation's rehabilitation division, said: "Currently, only people from low-income families get free outpatient care."

Zeng Qiyi, deputy director of the Guangzhou health bureau, said the suggestion is being considered.

The municipal government spent more then 1.5 million yuan ($220,000) last year on services for mentally ill people, including the provision of a counseling center and the opening of a hotline, he said.

(China Daily December 3, 2008)