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A doctor in China was suspended after a video showing him punching an 82-year-old patient while performing surgery on her went viral on Chinese social media and sparked outrage, the BBC reported.

The hospital’s parent group, Aier China, which operates a chain of eye hospitals, suspended the surgeon and dismissed the CEO of the facility where the incident had taken place in 2019. Chinese authorities are now probing the incident.

The video appears to show the surgeon punching a patient in the head at least three times while operating on her eyes. Aier China said the incident took place during an operation in its hospital in Guigang, a southwestern Chinese city.

The video, since surfacing, has gone viral. India Today could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

The parent group said that an 82-year-old woman, undergoing surgery with local anaesthesia, exhibited intolerance, moving her head and eyeballs despite warnings. The patient failed to understand the warnings in Mandarin because she spoke a local dialect.

The woman was left with bruises on her forehead due to the punch.

Following the incident, the hospital issued an apology and announced 500 yuan ($70) compensation to the patient’s son, who claimed his mother is now blind in her left eye, with the cause unclear.

The incident, which occurred in December 2019, gained public attention after Chinese doctor Ai Fen, known for alerting the public to the initial Wuhan Covid-19 outbreak, shared CCTV footage of the surgery on her Weibo account.

Aier China revealed the dismissal of the Guiyang hospital CEO and the suspension of the surgeon, who also serves as the hospital dean, citing “serious violations of the group’s regulations”, including unspecified offences, and the hospital’s failure to report the incident to headquarters.

Dr Ai Fen has been in a legal dispute with Aier China since 2021, claiming she nearly lost sight in one eye following an operation at one of their hospitals – a charge the company denies.