Chinese train operator apologises for demanding medical ID from doctor treating sick passenger
- Physician ‘felt terrible’ after questioning by train conductor
- Train company says ID check on volunteers is not standard procedure
China Railway Nanning Group apologised to medical professionals after train staff demanded that a doctor produce her licence as she treated a fellow passenger.
The physician, identified only as Chen, was on a train from Liuzhou to Nanning in Guangxi on Sunday when there was a call for a volunteer to attend an emergency, she told Jianghuai Medicine, a social media news source for medical professionals.
She went to the carriage and found a man in his 40s complaining of severe pain in his abdomen.
Chen asked the man for his medical history, checked his vital signs and examined him before concluding the passenger might have a gastrointestinal disorder.
The man’s condition improved after she gave him medicine from the train’s first-aid kit. She then advised the traveller to go to hospital and request an ultrasound to rule out other conditions.
When Chen made her way back to her carriage, she was stopped by a conductor and asked for her medical licence. The doctor then realised the conductor had recorded her entire diagnosis and treatment.