Police detain care center director after 21 deaths
Print Edition
THE director of a care center in southern China has been detained by police after the deaths of 21 people, including a 15-year-old autistic boy, over the winter period.
Earlier this week, The Beijing News carried a story revealing that a number of inmates had died at the center for homeless, elderly and mentally ill people.
Yesterday, the Yangcheng Evening News reported that a local government investigation had found that conditions at the Lianxi care home in Shaoguan, a city in Guangdong Province, did not meet national safety standards.
Its report, which did not name the center’s director, said an investor, a legal representative and two care center staff had also been detained.
Accounts in local media of crowded and unsanitary conditions at the facility triggered widespread outrage.
“Was it murder? Did the (center) pocket government subsidies instead of spending money on the patients?” was one comment on Weibo.
The center is privately run, but financed by the local government.
Lei Wenfeng, the teenager who was among the dead, had wandered away from home and got lost, then died in December after having been at the center for just over a month.
The cause of Lei’s death has not been disclosed. Family members blame authorities for not doing enough to locate his parents.
News reports quoted Lei’s father as saying his son would have been able to say his own name and the name of his parents.
However, police turned the teenager over to staff at the center.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs ordered nationwide inspections of care facilities.
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