Beijing charity hospital seeks resolution amid rent negotiations

(ECNS) - A Beijing-based charity hospital specializing in long-term treatment for children with cleft lip and palate is facing an uncertain future after a rent dispute surfaced this month, prompting concerns among patients' families that ongoing care could be disrupted.

Li Yapeng, co-founder and legal representative of Beijing Yanran Angel Children's Hospital, said in a video posted on social media last week that the hospital owed about 26 million yuan ($3.73 million) in unpaid rent and could face closure if it failed to relocate.

The landlord doubled the annual rent to 10 million yuan after the original 10-year lease expired in 2019, and the hospital was unable to absorb the increase amid financial strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Li, once a famous Chinese actor.

Donations surged in the days after the video circulated online. By Wednesday, more than 350,000 people had contributed over 24 million yuan through a donation channel linked to the Yanran Angel Foundation.

However, Li said the Yanran Angel Foundation and Yanran Angel Children's Hospital are separate entities, and funds raised through the foundation can be used only for cleft lip and palate assistance.

Li stated in a video that the hospital does not have the qualifications to publicly raise funds. This means that public donations that have poured into the Angel Children's Fund cannot cover the hospital's rent.

An entrepreneur in Kunshan, in Suzhou city of eastern Jiangsu province, said four days ago that he was willing to provide space free of charge for the hospital. However, relocating from Beijing to Kunshan — more than 1,000 kilometers away — would pose significant logistical challenges for medical staff and patients.

On Tuesday, a business owner from Shandong said in an interview that he was willing to offer part of a vacant hospital facility in Beijing's Chaoyang District. As of Wednesday, the hospital had not publicly responded to the offer.

Parents said uncertainty over the hospital's future has caused anxiety, as cleft lip and palate treatment typically requires years of coordinated, multi-stage medical care.

"We only learned the hospital might have to relocate after seeing Li's video," Zhou Ting, whose 8-year-old daughter has undergone multiple surgeries at the hospital since infancy, told media. "Whether the hospital can continue operating, and where, will directly affect the next stage of her treatment."

Cleft lip and palate treatment can span more than a decade and involves surgeons, orthodontists, speech therapists and psychologists, said Li. Closing the hospital now would interrupt care for children already midway through treatment, he said, adding that surgeries for existing patients would be completed before any relocation.

Since opening in 2012, the hospital has performed more than 11,000 cleft lip and palate surgeries, about 7,000 of them free of charge, according to Li.

(By Zhang Jiahao)