Hunan woman faces huge medical costs for preterm quadruplets

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-09-08

The newborns at the neonatal intensive care unit in Chenzhou. (Internet photo)

A woman from Chenzhou in south-central China's Hunan province delivered preterm quadruplets on Aug. 28 and now has hefty medical fees to worry about, reports local online news outlet xxcb.cn.

Zhong Yaxiang grew up in a poor farming family before marrying Cao Yaoming, her junior high school classmate. The couple moved to Shenzhen this year to find higher-paid work in factories. Zhong then discovered she was pregnant.

She at first thought she was expecting triplets but found out six months into the pregnancy that it was in fact quadruplets. Zhong went to a number of different hospitals for prenatal examinations and finally gave birth in the early morning of Aug. 28 in the hospital in Chenzhou.

The babies, who were born prematurely, are now in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. Zhong said that she is nervous about being able to pay for her babies' treatment, which costs 5,000 yuan (US$790) a day. "The care they need is not going to be cheap and will probably cost 200,000 yuan (US$31,500) for us," she said.

Her husband Cao said they don't know where to turn for cash as they have already borrowed at least 20,000 yuan (US$3,150) from relatives. The local government had given them 10,000 yuan (US$1,570) as well. Their family members are looking for ways to raise the money for the family's newest additions.