Several hundred hospital workers in white coats and surgical masks staged a rare protest in eastern China against attacks on medical workers after a patient stabbed three of their doctors, killing one.
The staffers assembled on Monday outside the Wenling City No 1 People’s Hospital hoisting signs that said “uphold justice” and “guarantee medical staffers’ safety.”
The staffers wanted their safety and dignity as medical workers to be guaranteed, said a woman who refused to give her name when reached by phone at the facility’s emergency department, where a doctor named Wang Yunjie was killed on Friday.
“We are still protesting and demanding that the government and the hospital management ensure the safety of the doctors,” the staffer said.
The protest came after a knife-wielding patient, who was being treated in the emergency department, stabbed the three doctors on Friday. One died while the other two were wounded, according to statements by Wenling police on their official microblog.
Attacks on hospital staff by patients have becoming increasingly common in China, where overcrowded facilities and rampant medical corruption fuel frustration that sometimes boils over into violence.