Violence against medical workers in China may be fuelled by distrust
Government circular aims to halt violence in hospitals, but some say problem must be tackled at its root, as many distrust doctors
It was another harrowing week for China's frontline medical staff, with two more doctors attacked - one fatally - at work by disgruntled patients.
On Monday, Sun Dongtao, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist at Beigang Hospital in Qiqihar city, Heilongjiang , was beaten to death with an iron bar by a patient unhappy with treatment he received before the Lunar New Year.
Li Aixin, a doctor at the Yi County People's Hospital in Hebei, was stabbed in the throat on Tuesday by a patient dissatisfied with the outcome of an operation. Li was seriously injured but survived.
The two attacks are but the latest in a long line in recent years. Doctors, nurses and hospital orderlies have fallen victim to disgruntled patients or their families. Some were humiliated, forced to kneel in front of dead bodies of patients or, more often, assaulted with weapons. Medical staff have implored authorities to stop the violence in hospitals, prompting a circular issued by the Ministry of Public Security and National Health and Family Planning Commission. Though highly visible on the walls of hospitals, the circular has not deterred assaults on medical workers.
According to a China Radio International report, the China Medical Doctors' Association has called for security checks at hospitals.
Xinhua, however, said neither security checks nor training doctors in self-defence were proper solutions, and said more attention should be paid to resolving conflicts at their root.
Hospitals can be intimidating institutions that swallow money. Most dread the high cost of treatment even though many have public medical insurance. Some patients also do not fully trust doctors, whom they blame for prescribing drugs and treatment without adequate consultation and assume doctors benefit financially from the prescriptions, Xinhua said.
