Hospital apologizes to woman after miscarriage

A top health official from Xi’an, Shaanxi province, apologized to the public on Thursday after a pregnant woman had a miscarriage due to delayed treatment.

Liu Shunzhi, director of the Xi’an health commission, required Xi’an Gaoxin Hospital to apologize to the family and society for its failure to provide medical services for special groups during the epidemic. The hospital must also compensate the family.

According to the Xi’an government’s WeChat account, the woman — who was eight months pregnant and felt abdominal pain — was refused by medical staff because her nucleic acid test result was four hours overdue when she arrived at the hospital about 8 pm.

The woman was finally sent to the operating room more than two hours later after doctors found her condition had worsened, but the miscarriage had occurred by then.

After an investigation, city and provincial medical experts said the hospital has to take responsibility for the incident, Liu said at a news conference on Thursday.

The hospital was found to have problems, including inaccurate triage identification, untimely specialist intervention, inefficient process treatment and an insufficient emergency plan.

Fan Yuhui, general manager of the hospital, has been suspended, and other people responsible have been removed from their positions, he said.

The hospital told media it would learn from its mistakes and continue to serve the public.

Liu, the health commission director, and Li Qiang, director of the Xi’an Emergency Medical Center, received warnings from the Communist Party of China on Wednesday.

Shares of Xi’an International Medical Investment Co, the parent company of the hospital, fell more than 8 percent at one point during trading on Wednesday on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, then dropped 4.81 percent on Thursday to close at 10.28 yuan ($1.61).

The market value of the company was reported to have shrunk by 3.3 billion yuan in two days.