Beijing, May 30 (IANS): Nearly 60,000 Chinese orphans received free health insurance contracts Friday as a gift on its June 1 Children's Day.
Under a joint insurance programme supported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Children Insurance Foundation (CCIF), the insured will be covered for the cost of treating 12 critical illnesses, xinhua reported.
The latest beneficiaries were from Qinghai, Henan, Beijing, Tianjin and north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Of those covered, 4,659 orphans from Inner Mongolia were covered for the first time by the charity programme.
The programme has given more than 930,000 insurance contracts to children in 20 provinces and regions, according to a CCIF official.
The official said each insured child is covered for 100,000 yuan (16,000 US dollars) at a premium of 50 yuan a year to cover the cost of treating 12 critical illnesses, including malignant tumors and conditions requiring organ or stem cell transplants.
An insurance fund created through donations will be accessible for one year starting on June 1.