Chinese parents of premature quadruplets fear meeting 200,000 yuan cost of intensive care

The Chinese parents of quadruplets, who remain in intensive care after being born prematurely last Friday, fear the medical costs for their care could reach 200,000 yuan (HK$243,000), mainland media reports.

Zhong Yaxiang, 26, gave birth to four boys, weighing between 1.05 kg and 1.2 kg, at about noon at the First People’s Hospital in the city of Chenzhou, in southern China’s Hunan province, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald said.

One hospital worker told the newspaper said the babies remained in incubators at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, where they were being given special care by leading doctors and nurses.

Cao Yaoming, 25, the father of the quadruplets, said he was worried that keeping the babies in the special baby unit was costing about 5,000 yuan per day in medical fees, and that the total costs were likely to reach 200,000 yuan.

He said he would be unable to pay the fees himself and had so far had to borrow about 20,000 yuan from friends and relatives.

Zhong told the newspaper she was glad to see her baby sons doing well in hospital, but was also worried that her family, who live in a village near Chenzhou, would be unable to cover the cost of the medical fees.