Published: 6:10pm, 16 Aug 2025Updated: 6:12pm, 16 Aug 2025
Several top university and hospital administrators in China have been held accountable after a noted thoracic surgeon left an anaesthetised patient for over half an hour to confront a nurse in defence of his mistress, a junior doctor.
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The punishments respond to widespread public anger over the scandal, which broke in April, as well as questions about hospital management, professional ethics and accountability within China’s medical institutions.
A total of 19 officials from five prestigious institutions had been disciplined in the matter, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Friday. The measures included severe warnings from the ruling Communist Party, disciplinary penalties, demotions and dismissals, it said.
Party mouthpiece People’s Daily welcomed the move, with a commentary published on Saturday calling the NHC’s handling of the matter “authoritative and serious”.
The investigation and disciplinary measures helped to restore public confidence in the healthcare sector and medical practitioners, it added.
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Institutions censured include the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), which have been ordered to rectify their practices.