Hunan Province saves rural children with huge medical bills

The 8-year-old Liu Xiaomei, a 8-year-old girl from Jinmin Township, Jinzhou Town, Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at the age of 2 and was unable to operate because of financial difficulties at home. "The whole family is running on 'father's' to make money, and the economic conditions are not good. They haven't got tens of thousands of operating expenses." Liu Xiaomei said with sadness.

Since last year, Hunan province piloted free treatment for serious illnesses among children in rural areas and gradually increased the treatment of children with congenital heart disease. This brought hope to Liu Xiaomei. In March of this year, under the guidance of his father, Liu Xiaomei, who was full of expectations, came to Changsha for a detailed physical examination and successfully completed the operation at Hunan Children's Hospital at the end of September this year. After six years of serious illness, he was healed. Liu Xiaomei regained health. The family finally put down the big stones in his heart.

Due to the family's economic difficulties, many rural children with severe illness are unable to get full treatment, leading to long delays in major illnesses and delaying the best time for treatment. The province of Hunan, a major agricultural province, has taken the lead in launching free treatment for congenital heart disease and leukemia children in rural areas since last year. Many rural children with long illnesses have been promptly treated, and the medical burden on affected families has been significantly reduced.

Zhu Yimin, dean of the Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital, said that congenital heart disease is one of the most frequently occurring illnesses in children, which seriously affects their survival and health. About 6,000 of the 800,000 newborn infants in Hunan Province each year suffer from congenital heart disease. The resulting complications have severely affected children's normal growth and development.

Fang Yibing, deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Health, said that there are more than 200,000 patients with congenital heart disease in Hunan Province. In order to increase the intensity of treatment for children with severe illness in rural areas, Hunan Province in May 2010 made it clear that the treatment of rural children with major diseases provides institutional guarantees and financial support for the new rural cooperative medical system. The rural children with congenital heart disease pay for the medical expenses of the government. To carry out clinical path exploration and classification of limited surgical lump sums, and to use public hospitals with conditions as a platform for the implementation of major illness medical treatment for rural children with congenital heart disease and leukemia. As of the end of July 2011, Hunan Province had completed nearly 2,500 free surgeries for congenital heart disease.

Fang Yibing said that compared with congenital heart disease, leukemia children have higher treatment costs. About 500 cases of leukemia are newly introduced in Hunan Province each year, which seriously threatens the health of children and adolescents. This year, Hunan Province has strengthened the convergence of new rural cooperative medical services and civil administration medical assistance. It has taken the lead in the country to launch a pilot program for free treatment of rural leukemia and plans to complete the treatment of 200 children with leukemia. Two hundred and fifty children with leukemia who were hospitalized last year have been covered by 70% of medical expenses.