A migrant worker in Beijing has signed a 106-year deal to repay
530,000 yuan (US$73,408) his family owes a hospital so that he can
claim his wife's body.
Guo Yuliang, a migrant worker from Henan Province in his
thirties, yesterday handed the payment paper to Peking University
Third Hospital. The hospital had refused to return the body of
Zhang Guimei, Guo's wife, since she died from postpartum blood loss
in July, Beijing Times reported today.
"My family will keep our word and pay back all the money," Guo
told the newspaper. "My son or even my grandchildren will continue
to do that after my death."
Zhang, a 29-year-old farmer, died on July 27, 47 days after she
was rushed to the hospital for postpartum blood loss, the report
said.
She gave birth to a 3.3-kilogram boy on June 10 at Beijing's
Shangdi Hospital, the report said.
Medical fees at Peking University Third hospital mounted to
530,000 yuan for Zhang's treatment after Guo had already paid
50,000 yuan. The money was mostly borrowed from relatives, the
report added.
Peking University Third Hospital denied Guo his right to claim
Zhang's body. The hospital demanded Guo pay the medical fees but
gave him another option when it became apparent he didn't have the
money, the report said.
The hospital said it would cancel the debt if Guo agreed to
donate Zhang's body for medical study, the report said. He refused
the offer.
"I would blame myself for my whole life if I agreed to that,"
Guo, who has only primary school education, told the newspaper.
According to his calculation, he can pay 5,000 yuan a year,
which means it will take 106 years to clear the debt.
Guo, who works as an air-conditioner delivery man in the
capital, earns up to 2,000 yuan in the summer but his income drops
to 600 yuan to 900 yuan in the winter, the report said.
He has a six-year-old daughter, an eight-month-old son and his
father to support, the report said.
"I feel sorry for my children for the burden I passed on to
them," Guo told the newspaper. "I haven't given them any happiness
yet, only the debt."
Staff at the Peking hospital said they will deliver Guo's
payment pledge to higher authorities and required him to find a
person to guarantee his pledge, the report said.
Guo was said to have acted weird after his wife's death and even
said he planned to commit suicide, Guo Yujuan, the older sister and
a worker at a Beijing beauty salon, told the newspaper.
Guo Yuliang said he was determined to get his wife's body back
so that he could cremate it and take her ashes back to her hometown
for the Spring Festival, the report said.
Guo named his son Guo JingXin. Jing means he was born in Beijing
and Xin, a Chinese character composed of three Jin, or money in
Chinese, means his birth cost a huge amount of money, the report
said.
(Shanghai Daily January 25, 2008)