A staff member sprays disinfectant at a COVID-19 testing site in Jiangning District of Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, July 24, 2021.Photo: Xinhua

 
An elderly man in northern China unfortunately died this week in a quarrel with a local medical staff who asked the man to wear a face mask, Chinese media reported on Thursday.

The tragedy happened at a town hospital in the outskirts of Ulanqab, a city in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday afternoon, when the 87-year-old man suddenly fell to the ground during a quarrel with a staff who stopped him at the hospital entrance, according to Jimu News, a news channel under the Chutian Metropolis Daily.

The hospital employee stopped the man because he was not wearing a face mask which is a violation of local COVID-19 epidemic prevention regulations, explained the head of the hospital surnamed Li.

“Staff would certainly not let him into the hospital if he did not wear a mask,” Li told Jimu News on Thursday. “Now [we are at] a critical moment of epidemic prevention and control.”

The man allegedly lost his mask on his way to the hospital.

Li added that once the man fell down, medical staff immediately provided emergency treatment, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and then transferred him to a county-level hospital with better facilities in an ambulance. The man died in on his way to the hospital.

Li refuted claims that the hospital did not provide timely medical assistance. Many local residents spread messages through WeChat saying that hospital staff stood aside for half an hour before providing emergency treatment  to the man on the ground.

The local health authority mediated between the family of the man and the hospital, Li told media, reiterating that epidemic prevention is a big issue and everyone must wear a mask to enter the hospital. “No one wants such a misfortune to happen,” he said.

The town police also helped to deal with the incidence, said a local health official surnamed Yin, adding that  “if the mediation failed, family of the deceased and the hospital had to go through the court process,” according to  Jimu News.

The tragedy sparked a heated debate on Chinese social media on Thursday. Netizens were divided with some saying they support the hospital because COVID-19 prevention and control measures cannot be too strict as the latest virus outbreak has affected several provinces across China.

Others criticized the hospital for lacking flexibility and humanitarian approach on this single case. “Instead of quarreling with an 80-something, the staff should have directly given him a face mask,” one commented.