(Bloomberg) — Officials in Shanghai have suspended a health-care worker who was filmed kicking an elderly man in a hospital, sparking outrage and again putting the locked-down city’s medical system in the spotlight.
The video shows a female nurse kicking and hitting an elderly man who is kneeling on the ground with an object while also scolding him. The clip, apparently filmed by another patient, was met with outrage by internet users in China, with one person saying that the professional integrity of the hospital staff has been “fed to the dogs.”
pic.twitter.com/13WRCVi4dJ
— thameslion (@thameslion) May 5, 2022
Health officials said in a statement Thursday they “attached great importance to the incident and quickly formed a team to investigate the situation,” adding that the police have also launched their own investigation.
Shanghai — a city of 25 million home to some of the world’s second-largest economy’s most important financial institutions and biggest stock market — is in its fifth week of lockdown, though there have been some signs of easing as the number of cases falls. Many people have had difficulty getting groceries and essential medical care during the ordeal, which has pushed the health-care system to breaking point.
The lockdown in China’s most cosmopolitan city has caused an unusual amount of social unrest. Rare protests have broken out, and conflict between residents and the hazmat-suited personnel who enforce the lockdown is widespread. The latest incident comes days after a resident of a nursing home in Shanghai was mistakenly sent to the morgue while still alive, leading to the dismissals of four people, including the care facility’s director.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
