Zhang Haichao, the migrant worker known for receiving highly publicized open-chest surgery to find out the truth about his occupational illness, said yesterday it was "very unacceptable" that the hospital that performed his surgery will be punished by the Henan provincial health authority.

"If they did not perform the operation, then I would have had no option but to wait to die," Zhang told China Daily yesterday.

Working in a fireproof material factory for three years with growing pain in his chest since 2007, the 28-year-old Henan native suspected he had developed occupational lung disease. The diagnosis was later confirmed by several major hospitals in Henan and Beijing.