Xi'an official expelled for poor performance, bribes

A senior official in charge of emergency medical services in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from public office for taking bribes and his poor performance in dealing with the city's epidemic earlier this year.

Li Qiang, former director of the Xi'an Emergency Medical Center, has seriously violated the Party's disciplines and the national laws, and his case has been transferred to the local procuratorate for prosecution, said a statement issued by the Xi'an's Xincheng district discipline inspection commission and supervisory commission on Tuesday.

In January, a woman in Xi'an who was eight months pregnant and felt abdominal pain, was refused by medical staff because her nucleic acid test result was four hours overdue.

The late treatment led to her miscarriage. Several officials were punished, including Li, due to their poor performance in the high-profile incident.

The statement said that Li was entrusted with the duty and mission of the Xi'an Emergency Medical Center and that is to save the dying and heal the wounded. However, when people's lives were at stake, Li ignored the public's reasonable demands and brought major risks and hidden dangers to people's lives.

Li didn't perform his duty properly, indulged in playing cellphone games at work and had a slack working style, which formed a bad atmosphere in Xi'an's health system, causing serious negative impacts and adverse consequences on the city's epidemic prevention and control, it said.

He was irresponsible in his work during the critical period of epidemic prevention and control in Xi'an, which caused many major negative online public opinions and bad social impact, it said.

Li also embezzled public funds by means including falsely issuing invoices or increasing contract amounts. He also abused his power to help some companies in business contracting and accepted bribes.