Beijing hospital full up with panicked parents

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-19 21:52

BEIJING -- "It has been almost three months. He cries every time he pees," said Ren Haitang, a 50-year-old grandmother from a rural village in Yan'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

She was referring to her eight-month-old grandson who had been raised on Sanlu milk powder, the formula which was detected to contain the banned chemical melamine.

Upon her arrival in the capital early on Friday morning, she hooked up with her husband who was working in the city and the couple rushed with the boy in tow to Beijing Children's Hospital, one of the country's most prestigious children's hospitals.

At about 11 a.m., the grandfather was given registration card "No. 1169" for sonographic scans of the baby's kidneys and a urine test. It would be a long wait as many other infant patients were ahead them.

Ren's family, including her husband, three sons, a daughter-in-law and the grandson, make their living by running an apple orchard. It earns about 20,000 yuan (2,925 US dollars) to 30,000 yuan annually.

"We have spent more than 10,000 yuan before we came to Beijing, " Ren said. "We can't afford more."

A mere look at the child was enough to make her tearful.

Like Ren, many parents at the hospital said they had not been aware of their children's sickness until they saw the news about the tainted Sanlu milk powder.

According to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, 69 batches of milk products made by 22 dairy companies, including the well-known Sanlu, Yili, Mengniu and Yashili brands, had been laced with melamine.

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