CEN
Heartbreaking pictures have emerged of the humiliating existence of a 13-year-old Chinese girl whose family have no money for medication to treat her epilepsy.
Jiang Manqu is tied to her 60-year-old grandfather's moped to keep her safe while he scavenges for rubbish to recycle on the streets of Fuzhou, Fujian province.
The tragic teen was abandoned by her parents, and does not go to school. Her grandfather is her only relative, and cannot afford to buy her the drugs she needs to control her condition. The devoted elderly man takes Jiang everywhere with him in case she has a seizure.
He has even constructed a sleeping area on the back of his moped so Jiang can sleep while he works. Fearful that she might fall off the bike, or wander in to traffic, he has been forced to tether her to the vehicle with a rope.
"It breaks my heart but what else can I do?," he told CEN, "Her parents have abandoned her and I am all the family she has."
"She is better when she can get some medicine from the hospital but I can't afford that so we have to get by the best we can. The rope keeps her from wandering about or falling into the traffic. It's all I can afford," he added.
The harrowing images show little Jiang looking distressed and unkempt with a rope round her waist in front of her grandfather's electric bike while passers-by look on.
How can any child be denied medication in this day and age?