The Anjia women are among the few who have been given the opportunity of treatment. But the problem of occupational disease isn't going to go away.
Greedy factory owners are partially to blame but another reason is the lack of checks by authorities which has meant too little emphasis is placed on prevention.
Analysts said the government should emphasise prevention rather than treatment after the poisoning has taken place. Treatment is costly, slow and there is no promise of full recovery.
Very little attention is paid to work safety and preventing occupational disease when the government approves industrial projects and foreign investment, Feng Liuxiang, deputy director of the Guangdong Health Bureau was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
He said authorities did not put any stress on the occupational disease issue when they approved such projects.
He said it was also a very expensive process to install facilities to prevent occupational diseases once the factories were built. So many plans to ensure work safety were shelved.
'It is not that we lack regulations on occupational disease prevention,' Mr Feng told Xinhua. 'As early as the 1970s, we had health safety rules in Guangdong. After May 1, we had the national law on occupational disease prevention and treatment. But most of it is empty words.'