Students send letters of love and encouragement

Nearly 100 primary school students in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, have written letters of encouragement to children being treated for leukemia at a hospital in the city.

The activity was organized by the Hematology and Oncology Hospital at Harbin Medical University, which has treated nearly 400 children with leukemia since 2011. Most of the child patients are ages 2 to 5, according to reports in Modern Evening Times a newspaper in the city.

On Tuesday, the hospital organized a meeting between child patients and student representatives who delivered the letters to the ward.

The young patients and their parents read the letters, written by students at primary schools in Harbin, including Jihong Primary School and Huayuan Primary School, during the meeting.

"A new spring is coming and everything on Earth is regaining vitality, and all illness will disappear," said one letter, while another read, "I believe you will recover, and you must come to my home as a guest when you leave hospital."

Some students also included their cellphone numbers in the hope of remaining in contact with the patients, the newspaper reported.

The report said a local business had donated a tablet computer to each of the 86 children with leukemia in the hospital to help them continue with their studies and to provide entertainment during their period of treatment.

Li Limin, a doctor who specializes in the treatment of leukemia at the hospital, told the newspaper that between 70 percent and 80 percent of children diagnosed with the disease can be cured. Generally, boys can return to school after three years' treatment, while girls can return after two years, he said.

Li urged parents to send children to hospital for a checkup if they display repeated symptoms such as unexplained fever and pain in the joints, or if their gums bleed for more than two weeks.

Hu Yu, president of Wuhan Union Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, said the number of patients with leukemia in China is estimated to be about 4 million, and the figure is rising by about 60,000 every year. Children account for 40 percent of new cases annually.

Leukemia has long been the cancer with the highest rates of incidence and mortality among children in China, and the high cost of treatment is a major challenge for patients' families, he added.

Hu suggested that more measures should be taken to make treatment for child patients more affordable, including extending medical insurance reimbursement policies for the disease - which currently only cover children living in poverty in rural areas - to all children with the illness.