In a bizarre event in China, an elderly woman in China went to a hospital for an eye surgery where the doctor administered local anesthesia but the surgeon punched her at least three times in the head when the 82-year-old patient was intolerant and was speaking in a local dialect and couldn't understand the doctor's warnings during the surgery.

According to BBC, the shocking incident took place at a hospital in China's Guigang in 2019.

The entire incident was recorded on surveillance camera and was shared on Weibo by Dr Ai Fen, who was among a group of doctors who alerted the public to the initial Wuhan Covid outbreak.

The video went viral after it was shared on Chinese social media platforms recently.

Public outcry as Chinese doctor punches patient during surgery

A video showing a surgeon allegedly punching a patient during an operation has gone viral on Chinese social media this week. The incident has triggered public outrage online. pic.twitter.com/zvLADzCvFE
— Spotlight on China (@spotlightoncn) December 24, 2023

The hospital said in a statement that the patient was administered anaesthesia for the surgery, but she was intolerant to it. She kept moving her head and eyeballs during the surgery and couldn't understand the doctor's warnings in Mandarin as the patient spoke a local dialect.

The doctor "treated the patient roughly in an emergency", the BBC reported quoting the hospital.

"During the operation, due to local anaesthesia, the patient had surgical intolerance and reached up to try to touch [her] eyes. The area near the eyes is a sterile surgical area. Once touched, it may cause infection...the doctor wants to avoid danger," a statement, translated by Google, read. The local authorities reported that the woman sustained bruises on her forehead, the New York Post reported.

The hospital apologised to the elderly woman and gave her a compensation of 500 Yuan or ₹ 5,800. However, the woman's son claimed that she is blind in the left eye but there are no medical reports that suggest it was caused due to the incident.