China's 'Dr House' resigns from post at public hospital

Public healthcare in China isn’t what you’d call a shining beacon of excellence. But if anyone can make working-life at a Beijing public hospital sound marginally exciting, it’s Dr Yu Ying.

Yu, billed China’s real-life answer to character Dr House from American television’s medical drama House and nicknamed “emergency room superwoman”, announced her resignation from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital last Tuesday, much to the disappointment of her fans.

Yu's witty, pun-filled Weibo posts which range from light-hearted wisecracks about hospital conditions to embarrassing anecdotes are forwarded thousands of times online.

Yu’s abrupt decision, however, drew widespread speculation that she had either left out of frustration from working at a public hospital or been sacked for exposing too many of its problems.

“In my ideal world, a public hospital would actually serve people in genuine need of medical help. Special medical privileges or private wards for senior officials would be stripped,” Yu once wrote in a Weibo post.