Blood lead testing 'paralyzed': Chenzhou official

(Ecns.cn) -- Outcry over a breakdown in blood lead level testing by local hospitals finally received a response on Wednesday from health authorities in Chenzhou, a prefecture-level city in central China's Hunan Province.

All of the city's blood lead medical equipment has broken down, said Wang Dong, director of the local Public Health Bureau.

According to Wang, there are currently two medical institutions in Chenzhou qualified to administer such tests, but both have recently become "paralyzed."

Local residents have attempted to get blood lead levels tests continuously in the last two years since the mass poisoning of 191 children in Chenzhou. As many as 309 factories were polluting the county in 2009.