Five officials including head of local civil affairs bureau and head of a local welfare house in Shanghai's Putuo district were held accountable after a video showing employees of the house transferring a living elderly person to a mortuary, which went on viral on Chinese social media on Monday. 

Putuo district had carried out an investigation into the matter and revealed the initial results on Monday afternoon via an article published on its WeChat account. 

Zhang Jiandong, head of the district’s civil affairs bureau, was put on record according to the Party discipline and will accept further investigation. 

Huang Yaohong, deputy head of the bureau, Liu Yinghua, head of the bureau’s elderly care service section, and Wu Youcheng, head of the social career development office in Changzheng town, were removed from their positions, put on record and will be further investigated. 

The video showed that employees at the welfare house called Xinchangzheng were found to transfer an elderly person to the mortuary who sill showed living signs. The person has then been transferred to a hospital and was in stable condition now. 

Ge Fang, head of the welfare house was also sacked and put on record. 

Authorities also revoked the profession certificate of an involved doctor surnamed Tian, who is also under investigation. 

According to the article, the district’s civil affairs bureau has started administrative punishment procedures against the welfare house, and dispatched a working group to the place for further work. 

Global Times