China birth policy blamed as needle removed from girl’s he

Parents in China are so desperate to have a son, doctors believe relatives may tried to kill a baby girl by pushing a needle into her head. If she had died, her parents would then be able to try again for a baby boy, under the country’s tough one child per couple rule. But the little girl, now 11 years old survived and this week doctors surgically removed the needle that they believe caused her mental disabilities. The girl, known as Pingping was said to be recovering from the operation at a military hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu. “This is evil,” said Kuang Yongqin, who led the operation. He mentioned a common rural myth that sticking a needle into the head will result in death.

Pingping’s mother, Yang Xiaohui, reported the case to the police wants to bring charges against family members who may have been responsible for the attempted murder of her daughter. The needle was first discovered in a CT check at a hospital in east China's Zhejiang Province. Neurosurgeon Kuang Yongqin said the 5cm needle had grown into the brain tissue and had apparently been there a long time, Shainghai Daily reported. Hospital medical staff told The Times newspaper that Pingping was doing well, but it was unlikely she would recover from her mental disability.

Ms Yang said she had been under great pressure to give birth to a son as her husband already had a daughter by his first wife. She aborted her first fetus after it was found to be a girl amid pressure from her mother-in-law. But she persevered with Pingping and did her best to teach her daughter to walk and to speak simple words such as “Mummy” and “Daddy”. But Pingping has the mental age of a child of 3. Under China's "one child" family planning policy, the traditional cultural and economic preference for boys remains strong, especially in the vast and poor countryside.

Reports of aborted female foetuses and infanticide remain common. In rural areas, parents are allowed a second try if their first child is a girl, but in this case both parents had a daughter from a previous marriage.In 2007, doctors in southwestern Yunnan province discovered 26 needles embedded in the body of a 29-year-old woman.They were believed to have been inserted not long after she was born by grandparents upset she was not a boy. Doctors operated to remove the needles.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children