12 needles surgically removed from baby

A baby girl is rolled out of the operating room at Beijing Children's Hospital on Tuesday after 12 needles were removed from her body. She is expected to return home in about a week. Yang Yi / For China Daily

An 11-month-old baby who had 16 needles inserted in her body has had an operation during which all remaining needles were removed, and she is recovering in a hospital.

"The operation on Tuesday lasted three and a half hours, and doctors removed all remaining 12 needles in her body," Hou Xiaoju, from the publicity department of Beijing Children's Hospital, said on Wednesday.

Another staff member from the hospital, who only gave her surname, Yu, said the operation was a success, and the girl may recover after a week.

The baby - Fan Zixuan, from Gaotang county in Shandong province - was moved to Beijing for better treatment last week after an X-ray at a hospital in Gaotang revealed 12 needles in her abdomen and buttocks.

Her parents removed four needles themselves from her thigh, back and buttocks before the X-ray.

Fan Guangsheng, the baby's father, said he had no idea why his daughter's body had so many needles in it, and he suspects it was done intentionally, Beijing Times reported.

Fan Guangsheng has reported the case to local police in Shandong.

Gaotang's public security bureau has focused its investigation on 26-year-old Liu Hongyun, Fan Zixuan's aunt and the wife of her mother's brother. Liu died on Friday after taking poison, the bureau said in a brief statement posted on the government website of Gaotang.

The bureau has organized a team to investigate the baby's injuries and Liu's death and will make the results public, the bureau said.

Fan Guangsheng said Fan Zixuan kept crying when the baby's mother was cleaning the child's buttocks about a month ago when the mother discovered a sewing needle in the baby's buttocks, Beijing Times reported. In the following days, the parents discovered and removed another three needles.

When Fan Zixuan kept fidgeting and crying, they took her to a local hospital for an X-ray and discovered another 12 needles, the report said.

"If the needles only injured the baby's flesh, there would not be serious problems, and she may recover in the future," Zhou Zhongshu, a pediatrician at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said. "But (the injuries) may leave psychological scars."

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn