Why does the improvement of people's livelihood always come only after a leader's inspection?
When Premier Li Keqiang came to the clinic of Taipingzhuang Village, Wengniute Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, in 2014, what he saw was a house with room only for a few infusion chairs. Today, a standardized 90-square-meter clinic has been built, and more importantly, "villagers no longer have to leave the village to see a doctor for minor illnesses!"
Because the Premier came, the medical conditions in Taipingzhuang Village, Wengniute Banner, Chifeng City, achieved leapfrog development. From a dilapidated house with room only for a few infusion chairs to a standardized 90-square-meter clinic, the Premier's visit played a decisive role in improving local medical conditions. It was one way before the leader came and completely transformed after the leader's visit. How can the improvement of people's livelihood always come only after a leader's inspection?
The improvement of the clinic in Taipingzhuang Village benefited from the leader's attention. Imagine, if the Premier had not come to Taipingzhuang Village, how many years would it still have taken to build a standardized clinic? In less than a year, the dramatic transformation of medical conditions in Taipingzhuang Village shows that improving village-level medical conditions is not such a difficult problem. From remaining unchanged for many years to undergoing tremendous change within a year, this also fully demonstrates that the local authorities had the capacity to solve the problem of village-level medical conditions. Under the baton of the Premier's attention, problems that were hard for relevant departments to coordinate became easy, difficulties that were hard to resolve were resolved, the administrative efficiency of government agencies reached its best, and relevant approval issues also got the green light all the way, so the standardized clinic in Taipingzhuang Village was built quickly.
The improvement of people's livelihood should, by rights, be closely related to how urgent the people's needs are, but in reality there still exists a phenomenon in which the strength of implementation is directly proportional to the rank of the leader. The Premier went to Taipingzhuang Village, and the medical problem was solved in a year; if a provincial leader had gone, it would probably have been slower; if a municipal leader had gone, it would probably have been even slower; if a township leader had gone, the problem would probably have taken a very, very long time to solve.
Being capable of solving a problem yet failing to solve it for a long time, while difficult problems can be solved rapidly under a leader's attention, reflects the phenomenon that some local governments still "revolve around the leader." As for the medical problem in Taipingzhuang Village, the leaders of Wengniute Banner were probably not completely unaware of it. The rapid establishment of the standardized clinic, on the one hand, reflects the local government's efficiency in implementing the leader's instructions, and on the other hand, it also reflects the local government's mistaken focus of work in paying excessive attention to what the leader thinks and fearing only that the leader might look back.
After all, the places a leader can pay attention to are only a minority. We look more to sound institutions to promote the gradual improvement of livelihood issues at the grassroots level. The people of Taipingzhuang Village no longer have to worry about medical problems. What we want to ask further is how the medical conditions are in the surrounding villages the Premier did not visit. The author hopes that the leaders of Wengniute Banner will, more than anything, recognize the shortcomings in their own work from the Premier's visit and mend the fold after a sheep is lost, rather than merely being satisfied with giving the Premier an explanation and muddling through.