China Focus: Man hospitalized years after amputating ownleg

(Xinhua) 11:08, October 13, 2013

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A Chinese man has been hospitalized soon after media reports revealed his horrific story ofamputating his diseased leg himself about a year and a half ago.

Zheng Yanliang, a peasant from north China's Hebei Province, was taken to the No. 2Hospital of Baoding, a city 150 km northeast of provincial capital Shijiazhuang, on Fridayafternoon for medical observation and further treatment.

Zheng received medical examinations on Saturday, and doctors are working on plans forhis further treatment, according to Ge Changqing, director of the hospital.

In a case that has exposed shortcomings in China's medical assistance mechanism, the 47-year-old cut off his almost necrotic right leg with a knife and a hacksaw on April 14, 2012after local hospitals either refused to take him in or demanded exorbitant fees.

"One hospital asked us to pay 300,000 yuan (49,000 U.S. dollars) as an advance deposit,and we were told that follow-up medical treatment would cost more than 1 million yuan,which was far beyond our financial means," Zheng's wife, Shen Zhonghong, told Xinhua.

Zheng used to work slack seasons at a local brick kiln, earning no more than 1,000 yuan amonth.

He was diagnosed with arterial thrombosis of the lower limbs in early 2012 after aches inhis buttocks and thighs left him hardly able to walk.

After retreating from hospitals, where doctors said he could only survive for three moremonths, Zheng began pinning his hopes on conservative therapy, which meant he had toresort to shots to relieve his pain.

However, his disease quickly deteriorated, with his legs beginning to fester.

On April 11, three days before he amputated his leg, he even noticed maggots crawling outof his festering muscles, impelling him to summon the guts and make his final decision.

Zheng said he did not feel much pain when cutting into his muscles, and little blood spilledout due to the clotting. "But when the hacksaw went deeper to cut the bones, the pain wasunbearable. I had to bite a bamboo chip bundled with toweling to endure it."

Zheng's other leg is also in a terrible state and his left foot has already completely festeredaway.

Zheng was left in this misery because of healthcare loopholes.

Although he is covered under a rural cooperative medical system that enables farmers toafford basic hospital services, he would have had to accept hospitalization and pay the costsup front in order to claim them back.

His story, after it was broken on Thursday by local newspaper the Yanzhao Evening News,has triggered wide discussion on the Internet and a flood of donations.p The Red Crosssocieties in Baoding and Hebei Province have given 25,000 yuan to Zheng, bringing thetotal donations to more than 50,000 within only a few days.

Baoding Hospital's Ge said that all of the amputee's hospital expenses would be exempted.

Over 96 percent of China's total rural population has access to the new rural cooperativemedical insurance, but only common diseases are covered, said Guo Shuqin, deputydirector of the Baoding Health Bureau and president of Baoding No.1 Center Hospital.

Zheng's particular disease cannot be covered by the low-level, wide-reaching medicalinsurance, Guo said.

China's medical insurance also covers 70 percent of medical costs for 20 serious diseases,including cancer and cerebrovascular diseases, but Zheng's condition is not among the 20covered diseases, Guo added.

Guo suggested the government provide funds for such rare diseases.

The government is also obliged to inform the public, especially rural residents, that theyshould report their problems to relevant departments and ask for assistance, according toGuo, who also called on China to roll out some assistance policies.

（Editor：HuangJin、Liang Jun）