BEIJING - CHINA'S Health Ministry said six babies may have died after consuming tainted milk powder, up from a previous official toll of three. It also announced a sixfold increase in its tally of infants sickened in the scandal to nearly 300,000.

It was the first time since Sept 21 that the health authorities have revised the total number of babies sickened by milk powder adulterated with the industrial chemical melamine. The previous total was about 50,000.

The latest statistics show that China's communist leaders are slowly acknowledging the breadth of China's worst food safety scare in years.

The ministry said in a statement late on Monday that 294,000 babies across the country had suffered from urinary problems after consuming milk powder laced with melamine.

'Most of the sick children received outpatient treatment only for small amounts of sand-like kidney stones found in their urinary systems, while some patients had to be hospitalised for the illness,' the statement said.

Melamine is a chemical normally used to make plastics but it emerged in September that it had been routinely mixed into watered-down Chinese milk and dairy products to give the impression of higher protein content.

Thousands of parents have been clamouring for compensation for their sick or dead children. The release of the figures raises the question of whether the Health Ministry is about to finalise a compensation scheme.

Six babies had possibly died, the statement said, with four of the cases recorded in the provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Shaanxi, and the other two in Gansu province in the north- west.

There are other families who said their children died from drinking milk powder made by Sanlu, the dairy at the centre of the crisis, but their cases are apparently still not included. These cases were in Henan, Shaanxi and in far-western Xinjiang province.

Without an official verdict, families fear they will be denied compensation promised by the government through the Health Ministry, which has also said it would provide free medical treatment for children affected by tainted milk.

Beijing lawyer Chang Boyang, who has provided legal assistance to families of children who became ill, said there is still no word on compensation.

The ministry said it investigated 11 possible deaths related to melamine-tainted milk and ruled five of them out. It did not give further details or say whether the three earlier reported deaths were included in the new total.

By last Thursday, 861 babies were still hospitalised with kidney problems caused by contaminated milk powder.

The scandal has undermined international confidence in Chinese food exports, with dairy items the worst affected.

China exported just over 1,000 tonnes of dairy products in October, down 92 per cent from a year earlier, the China Daily reported, quoting figures from the Customs administration.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE