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Beijing: A shocking incident at a hospital in Guigang, China, where a surgeon allegedly punched an 82-year-old female patient during an eye surgery, has sparked widespread public outrage. The incident took place in December 2019, but came into limelight recently, drawing strong reactions on Chinese social media.
A video of the incident went viral, showing the patient being punched on the head multiple times. The hospital, a branch of Aier China’s chain of eye hospitals, claimed that the patient, who could only communicate in the local dialect, was moving her head and eyeballs due to her inability to tolerate local anesthesia and ignored the surgeon’s warnings in Mandarin. As a result, the surgeon acted roughly in a situation described as an emergency.
As a result of the incident, the patient suffered an injury on his forehead and is now blind in his left eye. However, it is unclear whether his loss of vision was a direct result of the incident. The hospital management initially apologized and compensated the patient’s family with 500 yuan. Following the incident, Air China took drastic measures by suspending the surgeon, who was also the hospital’s dean, and firing the hospital’s CEO for failing to report the incident, along with other unspecified violations.
The hospital deeply apologised to the elderly woman and gave her a compensation of 500 Yuan or ₹ 5,800. However, the woman’s son claimed that she is blind in the left eye but there are no medical reports that suggest it was caused due to the incident.
The incident came to public notice when prominent Chinese doctor Dr Ai Fen, known for her early warnings during the Wuhan Covid outbreak, shared video footage on her Weibo account. Dr Ai has been embroiled in legal disputes with Air China since 2021, over a separate issue related to an operation performed at one of her hospitals, which she alleges almost cost her the vision in one eye.
