Yu Wenfang and nine other seriously ill migrant workers from a Shenzhen factory said they felt they were being ignored as droves of officials, reporters and cameramen flocked to the Guangdong Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Hospital in Guangzhou to interview a group of new patients.
'I am sorry [about your misfortune],' a Xinhua reporter told them. 'But we are too busy now.' The reporters had come to interview 13 women who are suffering from benzene poisoning after working at the Anjia Shoe Factory in Dongguan.
The Anjia women were 'rescued' after a letter of complaint was sent to the Guangdong Women's Federation. The organisation wanted to use the incident to help reduce rampant occupational disease cases in Guangdong.
They came into contact with the toxic chemical after working long hours using glue containing benzene to make shoes. Exposure to benzene can cause anaemia and leukaemia.
After their plight was exposed by local media and through intervention by the federation, Anjia - a Taiwanese joint-venture company that employed the women, promised to provide them with medical treatment.
'But what about us?' asked Wang Zegui, one of the 10 workers at the treatment centre after a bout of food poisoning at their glass factory's canteen in Shenzhen about six months ago. 'We also got sick because of the factory. It is not our fault.'
Ms Yu has yet to recover. Her hands still shake and she has difficulty walking unaided.