Doctors treating an elderly Chinese woman for stomach ache were stunned when they found that she had been carrying an unborn child for 60 years.

Ninety-two-year-old Huang Yijun, of Huangjiaotan, revealed that her child had died in the womb way back in 1948, and that she did not have it removed because doctors would charge 100 pounds for the job.

"It was a huge sum at the time - more than the whole family earned in several years so I did nothing and ignored it,” The Sun quoted her as saying.

The secret surfaced after Huang hurt her stomach, and went to hospital for a scan.

Dr Liu Anbin, at Qingshen hospital, said: "I couldn’t believe my eyes when I discovered she had a baby in her belly. I’ve been a doctor for more than 40 years and it’s the first time I have seen something like this."

The doctors are presently carrying out further tests to determine whether Huang would require an operation to remove the baby.

Consultant Xu Xianming, director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at the hospital, said: "Normally a dead foetus would decay. It’s very rare that Huang can be so healthy."