A 43-year-old doctor has reportedly died of a stroke after working for 18 hours non-stop in China.

Dr Zhao Bianxiang, from Shanxi Province, was said to collapse in her patient's ward at noon on December 29 before being taken for emergency treatment.

Heart-breaking pictures have emerged showing Dr Zhao's elderly mother and father seeing her for the last time in a ward in the hospital she worked for.

Dr Zhao was pronounced dead on the morning of December 30 after her colleagues failed to save her, according to local media.

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Farewell: Dr Zhao lies in the hospital in Shanxi, China, as her mother sees her for the last time

Tragic: The 43-year-old doctor collapsed next to her patient after reportedly working 18 hours without a break at the Department of Respiratory Care at the Yuci District Hospital in Jinzhong

Dr Zhao worked at the Department of Respiratory Care at the Yuci District Hospital in Jinzhong, a medium-size city in Shanxi, according to Shanxi Evening News.

A colleague of Dr Zhao told the newspaper that Dr Zhao started working at 6pm on December 28, and finished seeing outpatients at around midnight before starting checking the hospital wards.

She passed out at noon on December 29 and had not had any breaks during work.

The colleague said: 'In winter, the departments of paediatrics and respiratory care have the most patients.

'Often times, doctors couldn't finish work on time because they are too busy. In addition, the Department of Respiratory Care had some extra tasks recently.

'Dr Zhao was really too tired.'

Dr Zhao's elderly parents breaking down in tears after being informed to come to the hospital to see their dying daughter. They were allowed to see Dr Zhao 14 hours after she fainted

After Dr Zhao collapsed during work, her colleagues took her to the intensive care unit

According to local journalist Ma Xiaoma who was at the hospital when Dr Zhao passed away, Dr Zhao was checking a patient in the ward when she suddenly fainted. She had just finished her morning appointments with outpatients.

It's said that Dr Zhao's heart rate suddenly dropped after she fell to the floor and her colleagues took her to the intensive care unit.

Experts from the provincial capital Taiyuan were also called to save Dr Zhao.

Another colleague told journalist Ma Xiaoma that Dr Zhao was a 'workaholic'.

'No matter if she was on or not, as long as someone asked her for help, she never declined,' said the colleague.

Pictures and footage provided by journalist Ma and his colleagues show Dr Zhao's elderly parents breaking down in tears as they were allowed to see her daughter in an intensive care unit at around 2am on December 30.

However, Dr Zhao's colleague failed to save her despite having tried for 20 hours

Her devastated mother held her hand and wouldn't let go while her father cried her name beside her hospital bed, Ma described.

After 20 hours of resuscitation, Dr Zhao's colleagues failed to save her.

At 7:16am on December 30, Dr Zhao died after suffering from subarachnoid haemorrhage, an uncommon type of stroke caused by bleeding on the surface of the brain, according to NHS.

Reports suggested that China has now overtaken Japan as having the highest number of deaths related to overworking.

Nearly 600,000 Chinese workers are said to die from 'exhaustion' each year, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Between January and July in 2017, 13 doctors reportedly died during work caused by long hours, according to Beijing News citing Chinese Circulation Journal, a Chinese medical journal.