After five years in chains, impoverished Chinese girl finally to get medical treatment
Migrant worker parents of Xiaoxinli, who suffered brain damage from a fever as an infant, are simply too poor to send her to hospital
Childhood is cold and lonely for a seven-year-old girl in Yunnan province in Southwest China who has been chained at home for five years, Chinese media reported.
The girl, named Xiaoxinli, was diagnosed with brain atrophy at age two when she was sent to hospital with a fever.
Doctors at the hospital told the family the little girl would need follow-up examinations at a better equipped facility, news portal 163.com reported. But the family simply could not afford further treatment and even another check up for Xiaoxinli.
Zhao Guizhen, Xiaoxinli’s grandma, said the family’s entire income came from Xiaoxinli’s parents who were construction workers in Dali, the third biggest city in Yunnan.
“If things go well they can earn 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) a year, so nothing can be spared to pay for her treatment and medicine.”
