Shanghai Xiehe Hospital faces punishment for performing unnecessary tests and improper treatment on one of its patients, the Shanghai Health Bureau announced over the weekend.

The bureau said in a statement on its Website that the hospital and the doctors involved will face punishment, even though it was unable to track down the patient in question during an investigation.

The bureau is still trying to find the patient, but wouldn't give out her full name, only referring to her by the surname Wang.

The bureau began investigating the hospital on January 9, after Wang complained to the press that doctors from Xiehe had performed a series of unnecessary operations on her.

The bureau organized a group of doctors from Ruijin, Changzheng and Renji hospitals to discuss the case.

Wang, a 31-year-old single woman, went to the hospital in the afternoon of November 20 last year. Wang told the Xinhua news agency she underwent a gynecological test at Shanghai East Hospital that morning but was told it would take a week to get results.

Xiehe told her it could perform the test and provide results the same day, so she underwent the test again. Doctors diagnosed Wang with a series of gynecological diseases that could leave her sterile.

She told Xinhua she underwent 24 exams, two microwave treatments, and two surgeries. Her bill came to 39,875 yuan (US$4,984).

When the results of the exam at Shanghai East Hospital arrived on November 29, they said she was only suffering a very common gynecological disease.

(Shanghai Daily January 22, 2007)