Doctors and nurses stage protest in northern China, demanding justice after grieving family beats up colleagues
About 100 medical professionals march to county government headquarters to call for swift punishment for attackers
Nearly 100 doctors and nurses staged a protest in a county south of Beijing on Saturday, demanding swift punishment for a family that attacked hospital staff after a relative died, a national news portal reported.
They held aloft placards that read “Give me back my dignity and punish the attackers” as they marched down a main thoroughfare in Yongqing county, Hebei province, about 60km south of the capital city, according to Chinanews.com.
They travelled to the government headquarters, where one official promised the case would be handled in accordance with the law, the report said.
The local government admitted the rally was triggered by the incident at the hospital.
The patient had been admitted for heart disease and other ailments on Thursday afternoon. But the patient’s condition deteriorated the following day and the person died after emergency treatment.
About 20 family members arrived at the hospital and blocked the entrance to the main building as well as the front of the department of internal medicine, an anonymous doctor was quoted as saying.
The relatives assaulted three doctors and locked them in a room for eight hours, the report said. Their colleagues arrived early the next morning and freed them.
Staff called the police but officers refused to come to their aid, the doctor was quoted as saying.
The doctors and nurses took to the streets a few hours later. Several officers were deployed to maintain order, photos posed online showed. After meeting the county official, the staff returned to the hospital.
The police arrested 16 people, at least four of whom were relatives of the deceased, and the local health authority has launched an investigation.
Attacks on hospital staff by patients are increasingly common in mainland China. Some hospitals have stepped up security, and in some cases have issued guards with riot gear.
