Surgeons at a hospital in China's Gansu Province, forced a patient to pay $7,000 in the middle of a circumcision operation after they claimed to have discovered that the man was suffering from other diseases that needed immediate attention, police said in a statement Tuesday.

Police said the man, identified by the surname Lu, was lying on the operating table at the the Ouya Men's Health Hospital, when the surgeons stopped the operation and informed him that he needed to pay the amount - around 32 times more than what the other hospitals charged for the procedure. The patient then swiped his credit card inside the operation theater and they agreed to stitch up his wound only following the transaction.

A police complaint was filed and the investigation revealed that the hospital was backed by a criminal gang. Police said they had received several complaints in the past from patients who said they were forced to pay money in the middle of the surgery.

Speaking to local media, another man who was forced to pay an amount in the middle of his son’s circumcision surgery said the boy was being operated when he was informed that he was suffering from several serious diseases which could lead to infertility if not treated immediately. The man immediately agreed to pay the amount.

Following an investigation, involving over 100 victims, police arrested 50 people from the criminal gang and also caught 11 employees of the hospital. All the incidents took place between June and November 2019.

Doctors
In this photo, surgeons at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham conduct an operation, Birmingham, England, June 14, 2006. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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