Hospital disposes doctors taking selfies by operating table

A dozen doctors in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have received administrative punishment after taking group selfies next to a patient undergoing surgery.

Three of the doctors shown in the photos have had their administrative posts removed and the others given administrative warnings, the health bureau in Xi'an, Shannxi's capital, confirmed on Monday.

The photos were widely circulated on WeChat, China's popular social networking app, sparking public anger over the doctors' professional ethics.

The selfies show the doctors smiling and posing in front of an unconscious patient laying on the operating table.

According to the bureau's investigation, the photos were taken on Aug. 15 this year in the old surgery room of Fengcheng Hospital in Xi'an. The doctors took the photos as a keepsake of the last surgery held in the old operating room.

The bureau has dealt administrative punishments to directors of the hospital and imposed fines.

On popular microblog Sina Weibo, a user named Baiyishanmao, whose account certifies him as a surgeon from east China's Zhejiang Province, gave his professional opinion.

"Judging from the photos, the surgery has completed. The surgeon's two assistants were giving a finishing touch on the skin closure."

Baiyishanmao commented that a doctor can be happier than a patient's family when successfully completing a difficult surgery. Taking selfies to keep the memory is understandable. However, from a professional point of view, it was inappropriate for some of the doctors had their gauze masks taken off and the patient exposed in the photos.