Chinese authorities yesterday said they have punished officials after footage went viral of an eight-month pregnant woman miscarrying in the locked-down city of Xian, when a hospital refused her entry without a COVID-19 test.
The city of 13 million has been under strict home confinement for two weeks to stamp out an outbreak, in line with Beijing’s strict “zero COVID-19” strategy.
The incident was detailed in a social media post by the woman’s niece on Saturday, which included photos and video of the woman sitting on a plastic stool outside the hospital surrounded by a pool of blood.
The post said that the negative test result had expired just a few hours earlier.
The post was removed, but not before it had hundreds of millions of views and sparked widespread anger online about hardships faced by Xian residents.
The city government said in a statement yesterday that the incident at Xian Gaoxin Hospital had aroused “widespread concern and caused a bad social impact,” and that the local health bureau was investigating.
The hospital’s general manager was suspended, and “responsible persons” at the outpatient department were removed from their posts, it said.
Officials told reporters on Wednesday that Xian was opening channels to provide quick access to medical services to certain groups, such as pregnant women and patients with critical illnesses.
The pledge came as another woman from Xian said that her father died on Monday after several hospitals declined to treat his heart ailment due to restrictions.
In a social media post that has been viewed about 500 million times, she recounted driving eight hours searching for a hospital while her father complained of severe chest pains.
After he was finally admitted, “the doctor said that the delay was too long,” she wrote.
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