HEBEI, CHINA - BBC - A Chinese farmer who sawed off his diseased leg because he could not afford hospital treatment bills has shone a spotlight on gaps in the health care system. Zheng Yanliang, who is from Hebei province in north China, developed an infection in his leg last year and the blood circulation to it began to fail. That made the problem worse and gangrene set in.
By the time he went to the doctor, Mr Zheng, 47, was told he would need an operation and could lose his leg. It was then that Mr Zheng realised he was in big trouble. “I asked how much it would cost to do this operation,” he said.  “The doctor said an operation on one leg would cost more than 300,000 yuan ($49,000, £30,000) and it would cost more than a million yuan if I had operations on both legs. I can’t afford it. I only had 20,000 yuan.” Mr Zheng’s case, although extreme, has highlighted the flaws in China’s health care system, particularly for those living in the countryside. He was covered for some medical treatment under the government’s rural health insurance scheme. But he had to pay the costs upfront and could only claim back some of them.  Without enough money to pay for treatment or surgery, Mr Zheng felt he had no choice but to return to his home in Dongzang village in Qingyuan county, where he endured months of extreme pain.