New | Chinese man detained after hijacking ambulance for ill girlfriend

A man surnamed Shi has been sentenced to 20 days’ detention for hijacking an ambulance in coastal Fujian province last week.

Police said the man, whose full name was not released, had to serve time for assault and “disturbing order at a workplace” for attacking an ambulance’s driver and taking control of his vehicle in an effort to get his girlfriend to hospital for treatment.

The episode has sparked a debate online about whether the man did the right thing, with thousands of people commenting on his actions, most praising his determination to help his girlfriend. 

“This just goes to prove that in China you have to do things yourself,” wrote one netizen.

The incident also came at a time amid a series of violent attacks at hospitals as the public have lost faith in medical service providers, who have often been pushed into corruption by low salaries.

Shi had originally taken his girlfriend, suffering from gas poisoning, to the Xiamen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Thursday morning. Because the hospital lacked the equipment to treat her, it offered to take the woman to the Xiamen First Hospital some ten kilometres south.