Patient claims he agreed to surgeons taking selfies(2)

Doctors take group selfies next to a patient inside an operating room in Xi'an Fengcheng Hospital on Aug 15, 2014. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

Netizens were split on whether it's fine or not for the doctors to take the photos in the operating room. Some blamed them for lacking professional ethnics while the rest were more tolerant with it. A Shaanxi TV program, the first media to report the incident, was also criticized for not interviewing the involved people and aggravating the tension.

Xi'an health bureau on Monday announced it was going to punish the hospital and the doctors involved in the selfies. The deputy president of the hospital, the dean and the head nurse of its anesthesiology department were removed from their posts.

After the announcement, new wave of comments began appearing on the Internet, with some supporting the decision and the rest considering it too harsh.

"It's indeed inappropriate for the doctors to take off gauze masks in the operating room," said Li Jianrong, a deputy president of the hospital. "But the incident was magnified by media and the netizens."

Pressured by the reports and discussions on the Internet, the hospital decided to give heavy punishment to the doctors, he said.

According to a report by Beijing Youth Daily, the micro blogger who posted the photos on Sina Weibo was working in another private hospital in Xi'an. Vicious competition is speculated behind the incident.