The father of a child diagnosed with a kidney stone has written an open letter to the public, seeking assistance in getting his daughter an urgently needed operation.
Zhou Jian's two-year-old daughter developed stones in her left kidney after drinking milk made with melamine-contaminated milk powder. For the last year, Zhou has sought help from various regime entities to no avail.
In Zhou's letter, he said, "Every child is the parents' heart and flesh. I hope kind-hearted people can help the parents of children with kidney stones."
Zhou said he has exhausted every government channel. The Health Bureau told him to seek help from the hospital. The hospital told him to go to the Health Bureau. In the end, no one was willing to help.
"When my daughter was sick, I took her from Hunan Province, where we lived, to Xiamen, Zhejiang, Hebei, Beijing, and Guangdong. No hospital was willing to accept her. There are no free clinics anywhere. My daughter was diagnosed with kidney stones in September 2008. At that time, the doctors told me it was incurable. The only thing I could do was to give her a lot of water," Zhou said in his letter.
Zhou's daughter, Menghan, often urinated blood. Zhou took her to Beijing. "I thought things would be better in Beijing. When we arrived at the Children's Hospital for an exam, I learned that I was wrong. Beijing was not as great as I thought.
“It's the same everywhere. They would not admit my daughter because there were no beds left. The only space available was in the International Division, however, that meant I needed to pay a 50,000 yuan [about $7,319 USD] retainer fee up-front."
Zhou had used up all his savings and was already tens of thousands of yuan in debt. He could not afford another 50,000 yuan. He went to Gong Meng, a nonprofit organization, for help. He said, "If it weren't for Gong Meng, I think we would have starved to death in Beijing."
"This has been going on for almost a year. If the government really wanted to help [as it claims], damages aside, it should at least offer free treatment for the sick children. It is such a powerful government, yet it is lying to our faces," Zhou said.
Zhou and his daughter have temporarily settled in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Zhou is working on a construction site as a laborer. Recently, he took Menghan to the Guangzhou Children's Hospital. The doctors there said that the kidney stones have migrated, and that an operation must be performed right away. The child's life is in danger, nevertheless, the hospital requires an up-front fee of 20,000 yuan (about $2,927 USD).
"The stones have moved and may block the urinary tract. The situation is really urgent. She also seems to cry much more frequently and for long periods of time. Her urine is all red, with a lot of blood. Her fever often goes on for three days at a time. Such a poor young child," Zhou said.
The desperate father concluded his letter, "I don't have any other means. I am writing this letter as my last resort. I hope kind-hearted people can help us out."
Read the original Chinese article.
