Currently, Xi'an is battling one of the worst outbreaks of the virus ever since the pandemic started, having reported more than 1,700 cases in a month.
Trigger Warning: This story contains details of child loss that may be disturbing to readers.
A woman who was eight months pregnant miscarried her child after being refused treatment in what’s been dubbed the world’s strictest lockdown in China. According to New York Post, she was forced to wait outside a hospital in the northern city of Xi’an in agony because she was not allowed care until she had tested negative for the virus.
The mom-to-be reportedly called an ambulance after experiencing pain in her belly, according to an account from her niece posted on the microblog Weibo. Though she made it to the hospital, she was forced to wait outside, until her COVID test came out negative. She would only be admitted to the hospital after that, but she was someone who needed immediate attention, which the hospital failed to give, resulting in her losing her child.
"[Medical workers] sent her to an operating room seeing her [bleeding seriously]. The baby died in the womb after eight months of pregnancy because of delayed treatment," the niece shared on the post.
China punishes Xi'an officials after woman miscarries outside hospital during lockdown.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 6, 2022
The incident was detailed in a social media post by a relative and included images of the woman sitting on a stool outside the hospital surrounded by a pool of bloodhttps://t.co/S17pv2hO5M pic.twitter.com/fWSXjYM6mT
The South China Morning Post reported the niece’s follow-up post, where she shared: “My aunt sent me voice messages in her weak voice to ask me to keep updating the post. She is grieving and demands an explanation from the hospital.”
Meanwhile, two hospital department heads were fired and a general manager was suspended, the Xi’an government announced in a statement, according to Bloomberg. An investigation determined the incident was an “accident caused by negligence,” the release said and ordered the hospital to compensate and apologize to the woman.
Liu Shunzhi, head of the city’s health commission, also reportedly received a warning from the Communist Party for malpractice in emergency treatment.
Currently, Xi'an is battling one of the worst outbreaks of the virus ever since the pandemic started, having reported more than 1,700 cases in a month. Xi’an, a popular tourist destination, is one of the largest cities in China to be locked down since Wuhan was sealed off in January 2020 when the first COVID cases started to emerge.
China punishes officials after woman miscarries outside lockdown hospital https://t.co/wKNzc5fr9K pic.twitter.com/YCZ06lGpm5
— TODAY (@TODAYonline) January 6, 2022
Draconian rules have been imposed where people were forced to evict from their homes and taken to quarantine camps.
A number of people said they had been left waiting on the buses for several hours, adds BBC. Those taken to the quarantine facilities included elderly people, young children and pregnant women, according to reports. A picture of an old man standing alone in the cold wintry night as he waited to be transferred went viral, sparking pity online.
Now, the city is currently in the process of building facilities to house Covid patients.
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59855689
Cover Image Source (Representative): Getty Images | Paul Burns
