To Zeng Shaotang, a farmer from South China's Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, the medical bills he has to pay feels
like a mountain on his shoulders.
If he continues to delay paying the bill, Zeng will have to take
his seriously ill 1-year-old out of hospital.
"I feel so frustrated every day. Without money, we have to leave
and the only thing we can do is to wait for our baby to die," said
Zeng, who says he has spent all his savings and cannot borrow any
more money from his relatives.
The cost of hospital care and the fee for surgery on his baby has
so far totaled 80,000 yuan (US$9,673) and has crushed the family
financially.
It's a far cry from the happiness Zeng experienced when he married
his wife in 2002. The birth of their baby, Zeng Lingxing, a year
later brought great happiness to the family, who made a living
running a small tea house.
But their joy was shattered last March when the baby began to choke
and could not breathe.
He was admitted to hospital, where he was found to be suffering
from pneumonia, a congenital heart disease and septicemia.
The couple took the baby to every hospital in Guangxi and saw all
the experts on child care they could find.
But they had to end their search for medical help when their money
ran out.
"My relatives tried to persuade us to abandon the baby, and
sometimes I thought of giving up too," Zeng said.
When local hospitals appeared to have lost hope in finding a cure
for the baby, Zeng was advised to try the Shanghai Children's
Medical Center.
As one of the leading medical facilities in China, the center was
optimistic about curing the sick infant.
He was placed in the center's intensive care unit and began
receiving the care of teams of the most experienced doctors and
nurses. He began to recover.
But the mounting medical bills may crush the family's hopes of a
full recovery for their only child.
Zeng has been busy appealing for help through newspapers and
television.
"You have not known the happiness of the world," Zeng whispered to
his son during a recent hospital visit. "If one day you leave, it
will be your misfortune and due to our helplessness."
Money-consuming treatment
The Zeng family is not the only one in this predicament. If
children are not covered by health care insurance, the high cost of
medical care can quickly eat up a family's savings and even force
it into bankruptcy.
Less than one-quarter of China's population is covered by any of
the country's urban or rural medical plans, according to the
ChinaCare Group, a Beijing-based health care consulting firm.
High medical bills and lack of insurance have forced many parents
to delay obtaining treatment for their sick children or even to
give up altogether.
According to Ji Qianying, an official from the Shanghai Children's
Medical Center, many parents end the treatment for their children
when the cost is beyond their means.
A statistic from a blood treatment center in Xiehe Hospital in
Central China's Hunan
Province showed that only 14 out of 80 patients were able to
afford to see their treatment through to the end.
"The others gave up or came back for more treatment when they had
money," said Dr Zhang Zhiquan from the hospital.
"The lack of a medical care insurance system is one of the main
reasons why parents give up treatment. The disadvantages will show
up when the children come down with a serious disease," said one
official with the Shanghai Red Cross Association.
Children in China today are growing up in a rapidly changing
society where there are new opportunities but also new
insecurities. Although the economy is growing, the new health-care
system adopted by the country has transferred most of the cost to
patients and their families, instead of to government organs as
under the old system. This has resulted in some parents struggling
to pay for their children's health care.
Under-privileged children such as those from minority ethnic
communities, orphans and migrant children are particularly
vulnerable.
Commercial insurance may provide the only hope for parents.
"But the insurance companies have a limit on claims. The money is
far from enough to cure a seriously sick child," said Ji from the
Shanghai Children's Medical Center.
Also making the situation tough for struggling parents are the
rising costs of medical care in hospitals across the country.
Public support
An appeal for public support can be an effective way for
parents to get help paying the medical bills. By turning to
newspapers and TV stations for aid, they try to win sympathy and
support with their heart-breaking stories.
"But that cannot solve the problem. It is impossible for every sick
and impoverished child to show up on TV or in newspapers," said
Jiang Li, vice-director of the Shanghai Children's Medical Care
Fund. "A better way is to set up a fund and through it we call for
the efforts of the whole society to help our children."
A fund was set up in 1996 aimed at helping children under 18 to
receive medical care. The fund pays half the children's medical
fees. "The only thing you have to do is to pay 40 yuan (US$4.80)
every year," said Jiang.
Between September 1996 and October 2003, the fund has paid out 356
million yuan (US$43 million) for 487,700 sick youngsters.
The fund now also covers the children of migrant workers, one of
the most disadvantaged groups.
But today the fund is finding it increasingly difficult to make
ends meet. "In the past few years, there has been a little
deficit," said Jiang.
As an independent non-governmental organization, the fund does not
get financial support from the government.
The fund is about to raise the fee for students to 50 yuan (US$6)
per year in the hope of staying ahead of the steadily increasing
cost of medical care, Jiang added.
(Shanghai Star September 27, 2004)