Hospital scandal further eats away at public trust in China's healthcare
inappropriate relationship became a cloud of conjecture and controversy over one of the most prestigious medical schools in China.
In mid-April, a letter circulated on the internet. It was apparently written by a woman accusing her husband, China-Japan Friendship Hospital surgeon Xiao Fei, of cheating on her with junior doctor Dong Xiying. More disturbingly, Xiao was revealed to have left an anaesthetised patient lying on the operating table so that he could defend Dong against a critical colleague.
The hospital's response was to announce on April 27 that it would fire Xiao, after finding the accusations in the letter to be true. But this did not quell public anger, because people soon turned their attention to Dong, the female protagonist of the scandal.
In the media and online, questions were raised about her unconventional path to medicine. Traditionally, anyone who wants to become a doctor in China needs to put in about 10 years, including three years of residency training.
Dong is an economics graduate who switched to medicine via Peking Union Medical College's experimental '4+4' programme, which allows graduates of non-medical disciplines to complete Doctor of Medicine studies and a shortened residency in just four years.
The US-style programme was launched by the college in 2018. At that time, college president Wang Chen said the idea was to break through the previous limitations of medical education and recruit multidisciplinary talent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China girl nearly dies after eating greens, laxatives for 2 weeks to fit in birthday dress
A teenage girl almost died after she ate just small portions of vegetables and laxatives for two weeks in a dangerous attempt to fit into a new birthday dress. Mei, a 16-year-old from central China's Hunan province, had to go through an emergency 12-hour medical procedure after she lapsed into a critical condition as a result of her extreme diet. For two weeks, Mei ate nothing but a small amount of vegetables and laxatives, according to the mainland news outlet Xiaoxiang Morning Herald. Mei was sent to hospital, lapsed into a critical condition, and had to endure a 12-hour emergency procedure as a result of her diet. Photo: She was sent to hospital after she suddenly lost strength in her limbs and developed shortness of breath. Examinations showed that her blood potassium levels had plunged to well below normal. This resulted in a condition called serious hypokalaemia, which is often caused by an unhealthy diet. A doctor at another hospital in Hunan, surnamed Li, said an unbalanced diet and dehydration can lower levels of potassium in the body.
South China Morning Post
16 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese kindergarten lead poisoning scandal raises fresh questions over local governance
China's worst food safety scandal in almost two decades, in which hundreds of children suffered lead poisoning , has prompted fresh questions about the quality of local governance. On Sunday, the authorities in the northwestern province of Gansu said 10 local officials were under investigation over the incident in the city of Tianshui. One political scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the slow response to the incident showed how local officials 'try to avoid taking responsibility'. He added that a 'passive feedback mechanism' made it hard for the public to obtain accurate information. The investigation found that a local hospital and the provincial centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) had falsified test results. On Monday, the media outlet Caixin published a commentary questioning whether the data falsification was 'motivated by pressure or profit'.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
China-Singapore team's nanovaccine suppresses cancer recurrence and spread in animal tests
A joint China-Singapore research team is using nanoparticle technology to create a cancer vaccine that has produced promising results in animal tests – reducing the regrowth and spread of tumours up to seven times more effectively than existing treatments. The nanovaccine attacks not only regular cancerous cells but also cancer stem cells (CSCs), which can lie dormant within tumours during treatment, only awakening when conditions are more favourable to the disease. The bioinspired approach developed by the researchers, led by Yang Yanlian from the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology and Chen Xiaoyuan from the National University of Singapore, has potential for personalised cancer vaccines. The researchers detailed their findings in a paper published last month by the peer-reviewed Nature Nanotechnology. Post-surgical recurrence and metastasis of cancers are mainly driven by CSCs, which are highly resistant to conventional therapies. Some studies have even suggested that traditional treatments like radiotherapy may inadvertently promote their spread. The body's normal stem cells work continuously, whether generating blood or helping to renew the gut's lining every three to five days. But their unique self-renewal and unlimited proliferation qualities are also harboured by CSCs within tumours.
