Covid-19 in China: patients express concern after hospitals ordered to close over patient deaths

Two hospitals in Xian that turned away patients who subsequently died were ordered to close for ‘rectification’

Residents and medical staff wrote on social media that they were worried about the impact this would have on patients

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The Xian Gaoxin Hospital was one of two medical facilties ordered to close. Photo: Handout
and Xian International Medical Centre, in Xian city, China’s Shaanxi province, involved in recent scandals while under Covid-19 lockdown which resulting in a death and a miscarriage, have been ordered to suspend operation for rectification. (credit: Xian Gaoxin Hospital)

Published: 3:33pm, 14 Jan 2022Updated: 5:00pm, 14 Jan 2022

Residents of a Chinese city locked down for three weeks have taken to social media to voice concern after two hospitals were closed because their strict enforcement of virus rules led to patient deaths.

Guo Shuzhong, a doctor at Xian International Medical Centre Hospital, wrote on Thursday on his verified Weibo account that he’d “never felt so anxious” because 117 patients – mostly children – had ear surgery delayed, raising the risk of infections that could lead to permanent damage.

He said on Friday he had been given permission to finish the procedures. Guo did not respond to attempts to contact him via the social media platform.

A woman who said she was due to give birth soon at the same facility said she was worried about finding a new hospital so late in her pregnancy. “Where should I go?” she posted on Thursday.

Earlier this month, a woman’s miscarriage outside Xian Gaoxin Hospital, which denied her entry over an expired Covid test, caused uproar.

Separately, the father of one Xian resident died after initially being denied care at the centre where Guo practices.

Authorities in Xian, a city of 13 million people, on Thursday ordered both facilities to close for three months to undergo a “rectification” process.