Bank in Shanghai Starts Offering Medical LoansA local bank and three hospitals in Shanghai have started a medical credit program to help needy patients with eye diseases.A 29-month-old girl has become the city's first beneficiary from the new scheme. The girl, Tan Jiaxin, has congenital heart disease and suffers from muscle paralysis, which affects her sight. Tan's parents are short of money after they spent 40,000 yuan (about 4,800 U.S. dollars) on her medical treatment. Last week, they applied a loan from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Lujiazui Branch for their daughter. Doctors then performed an operation on Tan and she is soon to be discharged from the hospital. In fact, Tan is China's first patient to receive medical credit. From now on, patients who go to three hospitals in Shanghai can get medical loans from the bank. The three are the Xinhua Hospital affiliated with the Shanghai No.2 Medical Sciences University, Oriental Hospital, and Shanghai No.7 People's Hospital. Shen Xiaoming, head of the Xinhua Hospital, said that the loans will help a number of elderly people who are in financial difficulties to have their cataracts removed. |
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