When 22-year-old Sun Wenjuan was diagnosed with kidney failure three years ago, doctors told her parents to give her a farewell dinner and prepare her for death because only the rich could afford treatment. Fellow villagers raised funds for her first transplant and a kidney donated by her mother, but when it failed and the money ran out she was asked to leave the hospital despite her parents begging outside the director's office.

She would have died two years ago - the fate of 90 per cent of kidney patients on the mainland - if she had not been helped by chance by the South China Morning Post. Donations from readers helped fund her treatment. Still, seeking treatment in a purely profit-driven medical system was an extremely painful process.

While waiting for a matching kidney for another transplant, she contracted hepatitis B, which made blood transplants difficult. A non-government organisation is helping her investigate how she contracted the disease, which could be a result of hospital malpractice. She is now in another hospital for dialysis and has one constant question: 'Is there a good doctor in the world, or are they all after money?'