By Javier C. Hernandez & Iris Zhao @ NYTimes.com, Jan. 24

[....] The police in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan are now trying to find the parents of the girl, who the authorities say abandoned her on Saturday because they could not afford to treat her epilepsy.

The case has prompted a national debate about the high cost of medical treatment and the hardships suffered by children with disabilities. Each year, about 100,000 children are abandoned across China, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, many of them because they have disabilities [....]

A health care system marked by high co-payments and deductibles, as well as inconsistent coverage, means that paying for treatments can be devastating for low-income families. Adding to the problem, many families lack insurance coverage for infants, advocates say.

Ms. Qiu said that while families with disabled children in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai receive generous subsidies, those living in smaller cities often lack the resources to give them long-term care [....]