Pain lingers from melamine-tainted milk scandal

Li Qingli considers herself one of the lucky ones. Her four-year-old daughter, Tian Wenqi, was among 300,000 children who fell ill from melamine-tainted baby milk on the mainland last year. But she is alive, and starting to get better.

'The doctor told me that her right kidney has already lost its function. But because it has failed completely, it will not affect the other kidney, so we don't need to remove it. She still has puffy eyes and difficulty urinating when she has been too active. But otherwise she is healthy - no fever, no flu. I am very lucky.'

Li Dandan is one of the unlucky ones. Her two-year-old daughter, Lou Qianqian , has been on a drip since September 16 last year. Two kidney stones almost a centimetre in diameter have been discharged following acupuncture treatment to enlarge her renal ducts, but five others stubbornly remain in the little girl's kidneys.

'Her arms and legs are all purple and swollen from the drip needles. Now, every day finding a spot to pin the drip is a struggle,' Li said. 'We don't know when these other kidney stones will be discharged, but we do not dare to leave the hospital.'

The Harbin hospital where Qianqian is being treated has recommended the family go to Beijing for surgery. But other Harbin families who went to Beijing were told they could not get free treatment.

Qianqian is not eating well, nor is she growing. She is incontinent, a side effect of the enlarged renal ducts.