Photographs showing Chinese hospital employees posing next to a patient who had just undergone surgery have gone viral on the country’s microblogging sites, sparking widespread shock and outrage.
The pictures show a group of doctors and nurses at Xi’an Fengcheng hospital wearing green scrubs and blue face masks and looking at the camera triumphantly. In one image, they stand with their arms locked as one flashes a peace sign. In another, their gloves and masks are removed as the patient lies on his back, apparently unconscious.
Doctors receive administrative punishment after taking group selfies during surgery http://t.co/Ge7xyC2AIQ pic.twitter.com/2miIaV01TW
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) December 22, 2014
A newspaper in the central Chinese city Xi’an posted the photos to the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo on Monday morning and since then a topic page dedicated to the incident has drawn at least 75m views.
According to a statement on the Xi’an Bureau of Public Health’s website, hospital officials have since punished a dozen staff members – including an executive president, a vice-president, a chief of anaesthesiology and a chief nurse. Authorities have ordered the hospital to “make a public apology and carry out comprehensive reform”.
