Officials punished after woman miscarries due to delayed treatment

A local health commission director is among several people punished in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, in the wake of community concerns over the tragic miscarriage by a woman with eight-month pregnancy, local authorities said on Thursday.

The tragedy happened on January 1 when the woman suffered abdominal pains, contacted police and was sent to Xi'an Gaoxin Hospital at around 8pm.

However, she was refused entry for treatment as her nucleic acid test result had expired.

She waited outside the hospital for almost two hours during which she suffered massive bleeding and finally lost her baby.

Xi'an Health Commission has ordered Xi'an Gaoxin Hospital to actively communicate with the woman and deal with her postoperative rehabilitation and compensation.

It has also asked the hospital to apologize to the public, sort out its hidden procedural problems, further strengthen hospital management and optimize its medical treatment processes.

The general manager of the hospital has been suspended while relevant persons in charge of the outpatient and medical departments have been removed from their posts.

Punishment was also given by Xi'an's discipline inspection commission to Liu Shunzhi, director of Xi'an Health Commission, and Li Qiang, director of the Xi'an Emergency Center.

The local authorities stressed during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that no hospitals can use the excuse of pandemic prevention and control to affect the treatment of patients.

In addition, the service hotline and green channels should be open for patients with acute and critical illness, patients of hemodialysis, tumor radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and women who are pregnant or giving birth.

The ancient city with a population of 13 million people reported 63 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, and it has registered a total of 1,856 local cases since December 9.