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Xi’an hospital punished for refusing entry to pregnant woman
The Associated Press reported that hospital officials in the northern Chinese city of Xi’an have been punished after a pregnant woman miscarried after being refused entry, reportedly for not having current COVID-19 test results.
The city government announced Thursday that Gaoxin Hospital General Manager Fan Yuhui has been suspended and the heads of the outpatient department and medical department sacked.
A government statement said the incident had “caused widespread concern in society and caused a severe social impact.”
The woman waited outside the hospital on a pink plastic stool on New Year’s Day until she started bleeding. In a video taken by her husband that was circulated widely, a pool of blood was visible by her feet.
A city of 13 million, Xi’an has been under strict lockdown for more than two weeks, prompting scattered criticisms over shortages of food and heavy-handed behavior by authorities, who are under intense pressure to bring down COVID-19 case numbers.
The city said an investigation was carried out following the incident but gave no details. The hospital was ordered to issue a public apology, provide compensation and “optimize the medical treatment process.”
It wasn’t clear how many hospital staff had been punished in total, but they joined a growing list of officials disciplined over their handling of the outbreak.
China reports major drop in local COVID-19 infections in locked-down Xi’an
The city government on Thursday said two other ranking officials with the Xi’an Emergency Center and Xi’an Municipal Health Commission had been given formal warnings by the ruling Communist Party.
China imposes lockdown on 13 million people in northern city of Xi’an
Xi’an recorded another 63 cases of COVID-19, reported to be the delta variant, on Thursday, bringing its total over the month-long outbreak to more than 1,800, with no reported deaths.
Source: AP
