Chaos after four people stabbed in bloody knife attack in Shanghai hospital

Second stabbing incident in a week since Covid lockdown was lifted

Police officers stand outside Ruijin Hospital following the incident (Reuters)

Four people were stabbed in a bloody attack by a knife-wielding assailant who took some people hostage, causing chaos and panic inside a Shanghai hospital.

It was the second stabbing incident in China’s largest city since the stringent Covid-19 lockdown imposed in the financial hub was lifted in early June.

The incident took place on Saturday morning around 11.30am local time on the seventh floor of the outpatient department of Ruijin hospital.

The hospital, which is one of the most renowned hospitals in the city, was raided by the police, who found the knife-wielding man holding a group of people hostage.

The visuals from the hospital showed the aftermath of what looked like a bloody massacre with a long trail of blood on the floor. Those injured were bleeding profusely and were wheeled away on stretchers for treatment.

Some visuals also showed shocked people running in panic and leaving the hospital as police went inside.

Police said in a statement that they swiftly responded to the calls and “discovered a man holding a group of people hostage with a knife on the hospital’s seventh floor”.

They added: “When the suspect intended to injure the hostages and punish the police, the police decisively fired a shot to injure and subdue him.”

The attacker had already injured four people.

None of the victims has a life-threatening injury and the incident is being investigated, the police said.

Security was tightened in the hospital after it was cordoned off. All remaining appointments were cancelled, a police officer told onlookers outside.

A patient who had come to the hospital for a check-up told Reuters: “It’s very shocking. This is very despairing. What has happened to this society?”

The motive for the stabbing remains unclear as the investigation continues.

Hospitals and doctors in China remain the focus of anger among disgruntled family members and patients, while also having problems with touts illegally trading appointment tickets, long queues to see doctors, and corruption that can push up the cost of receiving care.

The incident comes just four days after a man was arrested for a stabbing spree in the city’s downtown Jingan district. A 59-year-old man surnamed Gao attacked several people in a fit of rage on Monday morning.