Hospitals packed as number of sick babies increases

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-19 15:03

SHIJIAZHUANG -- It's been a long week for sonographers at Renmin Hospital of Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province. Thirteen specialists work round the clock scanning kidneys, looking for signs of sickness caused by toxic milk powder.

They see an average of 500 children each day. For 70-year-old Fu Changcong, it's hard work.

Fu, retired and acting as a consultant in the sonography department, asked a young colleague to bring her a bottle of eye drops. After sitting in front of a screen all day her eyes are bloodshot, tired.

A doctor examines a baby who had been drinking Sanlu milk powder in a hospital in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality September 18, 2008. [Xinhua]

She said it takes longer to scan children as some cry and never stop moving.

"We have to examine them quickly but also carefully to avoid any wrong conclusion," Fu said. "It is tiring but I would like to do what I can for these kids."

Fu and her colleagues haven't had any days off working through Mid Autumn Festival.

Seven sonographic machines at the hospital are in full operation. Still, many parents who registered today had to wait until tomorrow to have their children examined.

"The number of patients we see per day is now equal to what we were used to seeing in an entire week," said Xue Hongyuan, the department head. "I have to limit the scans to no more than 600 a day. The staff and the machines are exhausted."

Parents came to the hospital, the largest in Hebei, the eye of the tainted milk storm, because it has the best sonographers and machines. They traveled from all over the city as well as faraway villages.

Even so, every hospital in the province is dealing with a huge influx of patients. On Thursday, around 38,000 children received kidney scans and urine tests, twice that of Wednesday.

In all, the provincial health department said, 80,000 children have been scanned since September 12.

The Sanlu Group, whose baby formula was contaminated with melamine, has been a credible brand in the province for a long time. It was estimated to hold an 80 percent market share, including bagged milk, yogurt and milk powder.

But the children seeking kidney scans are not only Sanlu customers. The state quality watchdog publicized two lists of tainted baby formula and bagged milk, involving other famous dairy brands such as Yili and Mengniu.

The news made Dun Wenya take her four-month-old baby girl to the hospital. She drank formula made by Shengyuan, a domestic producer.

"First I felt quite lucky because I did not feed her Sanlu milk," said the 25-year-old mother. "I did not expect Shengyuan to be tainted as well. I registered my baby for examinations right after I learned it from the news."

The provincial health department predicts hospitals will see even more patients in days to come.

To cope with the sudden need for baby kidney exams, it planned to equip each of its 136 county hospitals with a sonographic scanner. Between two and three sonographers will also be sent down from municipal or provincial hospitals.

"We hope children will go to county hospitals for examinations and basic treatment," said Yang, a health department official who would not give his full name. "City or provincial hospitals will take in kids that are in serious condition."

In addition, 196 medical teams are forming to go to rural areas, especially remote villages throughout Hebei, to help treat sick babies and educate parents about the illness.

According to the provincial health department, about 3 percent of all children scanned, so far, were diagnosed kidney stones. Around 500 were hospitalized and most have non-life-threatening conditions.

"We suggest children with tiny stones and no symptoms be treated at home and come back for a follow-up exam next month," said Yin Jianying, Chief of Renmin's Pediatrics Department. "The stones they have are sand-like and softer than those adults have. They can be washed out by drinking plenty of water."

Among those hospitalized at Renmin, 67 babies have recovered and gone home. Five remain for treatment but doctors said they are not in critical condition.

Ten-month-old Wang Tianhao is one of them. He's been in the hospital for five days because of a 4 mm kidney stone. Doctors said he does not have symptoms of renal disease.

His mother, Jiang Aihua is relieved.

"I was so scared because he couldn't help crying on the first day he was in the hospital," she said.

Wang received medicine for three days. Now he just drinks water.

"He can go home now," said his doctor Lou Yan. "It will take some time to fragment the stones and wash them out. But he does not need to take any more drugs, just needs to drink a lot of water."

No matter what doctors say, Jiang is still anxious. The mother, like so many others in China, is worried about whether her baby will fully recover and if there will be any long term affects on his health.