A man in Yiyang, Central China's Hunan Province was detained by police for stabbing the 10-year-old son of a hospital cashier on Monday following a dispute with the hospital, local police announced Tuesday.
The suspect surnamed He, 54, stabbed the boy surnamed Kong several times while on a public bus at around 6:20 a.m. Kong has been hospitalized and is now in stable condition, the Yiyang Public Security Bureau confirmed on its official Sina Weibo account in a statement.
The suspect had been hospitalized for emphysema at Yuejiaqiao township's health center before being transferred to another hospital. After getting into a dispute with the center in May over medical insurance reimbursement and his transfer, He came back to the center a few times and caused disturbances, according to police statement.
Kong's father, the cashier at the health center, once stepped in to stop He, Beijing's The Mirror newspaper reported Tuesday. Claiming that the cashier beat him, He demanded an apology.
Surveillance video from the bus showed He followed Kong - who was carrying a blue school bag - onboard, where he took a seat on the boy's right. Soon after, He turned and stabbed the boy with a knife nearly 30 centimeters long. The bus driver managed to take the knife away from He.
One of the cashier's colleagues told The Mirror that the boy "underwent a 4-hour surgery yesterday and is expected to have some other operations."
Kong was still in the intensive care unit on Tuesday, a doctor told The Beijing News.
"It will be very difficult for him to fully recover, since certain blood vessels and nerves were broken. He may be left with permanent effects [of the attack]," the doctor said.
Police said He was caught on site, and further investigation is now underway.
He was a recipient of the "five guarantees" of China's rural social security system in addition to a subsistence allowance, The Beijing News reported.
