Accident leads experts to call for more parental care

GUANGZHOU - Many psychologists say that the passers-by who did not stop to help a little girl who had been hit this past week by two vehicles must shoulder much of the blame for her current condition.

At the same time, though, they are calling on parents to pay more attention to their children, especially when they are in industrial and commercial places.

Yue Yue, the 2-year-old girl who was hit, began to slip into a worse state on Tuesday night, forcing workers at the hospital where she is being treated to go to extra lengths to try to save her, said Su Lei, director of the intensive care unit at the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army. Doctors had previously deemed the girl to be brain dead.

After she had been hit, 18 people walked past her without coming to her rescue. Help finally arrived when Chen Xianmei, a 57-year-old garbage collector, moved her to the side of the road and shouted for her parents.

The indifference of the passers-by is, without a doubt, partly responsible for the girl's current condition, said Annaliza Chan, a licensed psychology counselor in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.