Covid-19 in China: woman says father died of heart attack after being denied admission to Xian hospital

Name: Senior officials in Xian dismissed from posts as city turns corner on Covid-19 outbreak
Uploaded: 2022-01-06T10:30:19.000Z
Duration: 1 min 46 s
Description: Senior officials in Xian dismissed from posts as city turns corner on Covid-19 outbreak

A Weibo user says her father was left waiting for hours and a doctor told her he could have been saved if he had been treated more quickly

The claim has fuelled further public anger after two pregnant women reportedly lost babies after being refused treatment

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Xian has been locked down for more than two weeks. Photo: AP

Phoebe Zhang

Published: 6:30pm, 6 Jan 2022Updated: 6:56pm, 6 Jan 2022

A woman in China has said her father died of a heart attack after being refused entry to a hospital in the northwestern city of Xian amid tight Covid-19 controls.

The city entered its 15th day of lockdown on Thursday as criticism from residents grows about the city’s chaotic management, food shortages and other problems.

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Senior officials in Xian dismissed from posts as city turns corner on Covid-19 outbreak

As of Thursday, it had reported 63 new local cases and a total of 1,856 cases since the start of the outbreak last month.

In a post on Weibo on Wednesday, the woman wrote that her father started suffering from chest pains on Sunday afternoon and had trouble getting through to the switchboard when she called for an ambulance.

When she finally did speak to an operator, they told her they could not tell her how long she would have to wait for an ambulance.

She eventually decided to take him to a nearby hospital, Xian International Medical Centre, but they were initially refused entry.