Expectant mother loses baby due to COVID rules, Chinese hospital officials fired

Several Chinese hospital officials were fired after a pregnant woman, who was denied entry at a Xi’an hospital due to COVID-19 restrictions, lost her baby, local media reported on Thursday.

The woman, pregnant for eight months and in labor, was not allowed earlier this month into Xi’an Gaoxin Hospital, where she was waiting outside for two hours, as her COVID-19 negative test was old.

Accompanied by her husband, she was forced outside on stool and a video of the incident triggered mass criticism on Chinese social media. It was mostly discussed on Sina Weibo where it received around 280 million clicks with netizens seeking punishment to the officials involved.

Hospital manager Fan Yuhui was suspended, while several officials were removed from their positions, according to Chinese daily Global Times.

The head of the Xi’an health commission and the director of Xi'an emergency center were given “intra-party warnings for poorly performing their duties,” the report said.

On Wednesday, authorities said the incident was caused by “negligence”.

Local health authorities asked hospitals not use the pandemic prevention and control as an excuse to refuse treating certain patients, Global Times said.

Authorities ordered the hospital to apologize publicly, improve its treatment processes, and deal with the patient during her post-operative rehabilitation.

Registration of expectant mothers has begun in Xi’an to avoid such incidents in future.

Xi’an, the capital of northwestern Shaanxi province, is under lockdown for two weeks after witnessing mass coronavirus cases surpassing 1,800 since Dec. 9.

China reported 189 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including 57 imported cases, according to official data. The nationwide case tally has topped 103,000, including over 4,600 deaths, since the first cases were reported in December 2019.

Xi’an, a city of 13 million people, reported 63 cases, while the central Henan province registered 64 cases.

Authorities at Xi’an’s Xianyang International Airport said they suspended international passenger routes as of Jan. 5 due to the uptick in the virus cases.