Five child patients suffering from heart diseases received free operations at the People's Hospital of Guangdong Province in the provincial capital, the Guangzhou Daily reported Tuesday.

The five children, along with a two-year-old patient whose operation was postponed, are the first beneficiaries of a public health program dedicated to help single-mother families in need. According to the report, all the five young patients are recovering.

Another eight children have also received thorough physical checkups and are expected to receive surgery later this year.

I want to go back to school," said Lin Na, a nine-year-old girl who had just finished operation. She had dropped out from school because of her congenital heart disease. Weighing only 15 kilograms, her condition was one of the worst of the children.

She was now recovering, said Zhuang Jian, vice director of the hospital.

Zhuang said there are about 5,000 infants with congenital disease in the province each year, but only 40 percent were admitted to hospital. Most were infants from cities in the Pearl River Delta region. In poverty-stricken areas like northern and western parts of Guangdong, most children simply had no chance.

The situation required some urgent measures like the program to help single-mother families, which had given hope to some children, Zhuang said.

(Shenzhen Daily June 23, 2004)