An adopted girl, aged 1 and with a hugely distended belly, is carrying a baby inside her.

The adoptive family of Kang Mengru, from a small village in Luohe City, in central China's Henan Province, received scan results at the People's Hospital in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on Monday.

Zhengzhou Evening News reported yesterday that doctors discovered a fetus inside the girl's stomach, which is believed to be her parasitic twin, the result of one embryo not fully separating.

Kang has been hospitalized and her doctors are mapping out a plan on a surgical removal of the fetus.

The hospital's chief anesthetist Meng Fanmin and chief surgeon Zhang Xuedong told the newspaper it was a challenge and Kang faced high risk.

Kang was reported to have been picked up by her adoptive parents in a rye crop in Luohe's Zhaoling District.

Her adoptive parents took her to a hospital in Luohe after her belly started to swell.

The family cannot afford medical treatment and Kang is not covered by a local medical insurance policy because the procedure for her adoption is still undergoing, the report said.

However, the provincial health authority has decided to help the girl. Liu Xuezhou, Henan's health director, told the hospital to try its best to save her life.

Henan Red Cross set up a bank account: 78173 91010 18260 0165338 at CITIC Bank's Zhengzhou branch for donations from the public.

(Shanghai Daily September 10, 2009)