By Liang Qiwen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-14 07:24

GUANGZHOU: After managing to raise 1,700 yuan to pay for the funeral of his 4-year-old daughter, Chen Weiming is now facing a new challenge: to find 5,000 yuan for the treatment of his two surviving daughters, one aged 7 years, the other 18 months.

Administrators at the Shenzhen Children's Hospital, where his daughters are patients, are refusing to treat them until he pays 5,000 yuan ($715), Chen said.

All three of the 31-year-old migrant worker's girls contracted hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD).

"How can I find that amount of money?" Chen, who lives in the Longgang district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said.

"I can't borrow any more from my friends and relatives. After all, they are not rich either."

Like thousands of other migrant workers, Chen is not covered by the government's health insurance scheme.

He is now imploring the hospital to save his daughters, with the promise he will pay what he owes as soon as he can.

"I have lost one daughter, I don't want to lose another," Chen said.

Four-year-old Chen Jiaqi was taken to the Shenzhen Children's Hospital on Saturday, suffering from a fever and a rash.

Her condition soon worsened and she died the next day.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, 39 children have now died from the disease nationwide. Little Chen was the first fatality for Shenzhen.

"If Jiaqi was alive, we could spend the rest of our lives peacefully and happily, even though we are poor," Chen Weiming said.

Chen and his family live in abject poverty. When working he earns about 1,000 yuan a month. They share a 450-yuan-a-month, 50-sq-m apartment, paid for by a benevolent relative.

Finding 7,700 yuan to pay for Jiaqi's hospital treatment, and later her funeral, was a Herculean task. He eventually raised the money with the help of friends and family.

Yet despite their poverty, Chen said his family life with his wife and three daughters was happy, until fate intervened.

The Chens moved to Longgang five years ago from undeveloped Wuhua county in northeast Guangdong.

"We left our hometown to find a better job and earn more money," Chen said.

But without a trade or a decent education, Chen's options are limited.

He has done a number of manual, unskilled jobs, but after a stint working on a factory production line, he is now unemployed.

His wife Xie is a full-time housewife.

HFMD is a common child illness caused mostly by the virus enterovirus 71. As well as the high number of fatalities, the illness has affected more than 27,500 people across China, Xinhua reported.