Do you remember going to the doctor's as a young child and feeling a bit nervous and anxious?
Recently a group of 46 migrant school children between the ages of 8 and 10 years old all had the opportunity to have their first ever annual health check ups at the Global Care Hospital in Beijing
While having health care check ups may seem routine and normal to us, for a majority of migrant children living in China, having an annual check up is often unheard of.
I got the chance to meet several of these excited and somewhat nervous migrant school children recently at the Global Care hospital in Beijing.
Q: 你叫什么名字?几岁?(What's Your Name)
A: My name is Li Jiameng. I am 9 years old.
Q: 你今天紧张么?为什么呢?( Are you nervous today? )
A: Yes, because it is my first time to have a check-up in a hospital.
Nine year old Li Jia Meng is similar to most children going to the doctors feeling nervous about being examined and having shots, but for her this is the first time she has ever had a health care checkup.
She was happy to practice her English with me while waiting her turn to receive her check up.
"Hello, nice to meet you. How are you?"
With the vision of one woman who is passionate about helping migrant children, these children are getting the health care and education they deserve.
Founded in 2009 by Helen Boyle, the Migrant Children's Foundation also known as MCF is a non profit organization that works with migrant communities in Beijing, China.
Helen says these health checks provide a great opportunity for the children.
"Even though by our standard they're badly off, but by their own standard they're actually ok. in terms of the health and education it's not as good as we expect.They're happy, having said that they are happy. You know they don't feel that most of them are suffering.. So the health section is such something that I'm really concerned. This is an opportunity for them to actually come and sort of find out if there is any sort of problem that they can find out earlier, sooner rather than later."
Helen says that for almost every child that has received a health care check up, it is their first time to visit the doctor.
"They don't have a check up at all in fact a lot of them if they have health issues, the parents they can't afford to actually, to actually seek treatment. So this is something for them for the parents to be sure that the child is ok, but also you know like what I said if there is an issue, they actually can tackle it from you know an early phase."
Q: 你叫什么名字?几岁呀?( what is your name and how old are you?
A:My name is Hou Yifei. And I am 10 years old.
Q: 你今天紧张吗?Are you nervous today
A:A little bit.
Q: 那你最近身体好么?Have you been healthy recently?
A: I had a fever several days ago. Except of that, I am always healthy.
Q: 那你生病的时候还需要上课么?When you're sick, do you still have to go to school?
A: Yes, I have to attend class.
10 year old Hou Yi Fei says he's been pretty healthy recently, but recently he was sick with a fever.
For most of the children, they say when they are sick they still have to attend school because their parents have to go to work.
The Director of the Health Management Centre for the Global Care Hospital, Wei Changhong says that while generally most of the migrant children are healthy, there are some common problems she has seen in the recent health check ups for the children:
According to my experience, one common problem is about nutrition. The other is about development, such as whether their bones are healthy enough and whether they are tall enough. We use instruments, such as the weighing-machine to do a comprehensive assessment for children, and then we can see their health conditions".
Mike Bastin, a researcher at Nottingham Univeristy's School of Contemporary Chinese studies and expert on Chinese society issues further explains the situation for migrant families and their children in Beijing:
"Well despite the fact that to all intensive purposes, they're based in Beijing permanently apart from a few days over the Spring Fesitval, for when they return home to their home province, they are full time workers in Beijing, but they don't have a hukou, the city hukou that the so called locals have and as a result, they don't have access to health care, education and other service that the locals have."
And while there are still many more migrant children on the list to receive health care check ups in the coming year , Helen says that the MCF in collaboration with the support of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the Global Care Hospital hundreds of more children will receive free health care check ups in the coming year.
For CRI I'm Simone Cote.
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