Police officers patrol outside Shandong Provincial Hospital, a major hospital in Shandong province, in June as part of an effort to prevent attacks against medical professionals and handle disputes between doctors and patients that might escalate into violence. (Xu Suhui/Xinhua)
Officials introduce measures aimed at preventing assaults on hospital staff
On June 7, a man rushed into a nurse station at the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, a top hospital in Yunnan province, with a kitchen knife, and stabbed a nurse.
The 30-year-old nurse, whose identity was not disclosed, suffered multiple injuries to her head and hands, and was nearly unconscious before police arrived and subdued the suspect.
After intensive care, the nurse was reported to be in stable condition a week after the attack. Police detained the suspect, surnamed Zhang, but disclosed no information about the case.
More than 10 attacks on medical workers were reported in China in the first three weeks of June, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said.
From December 2013 to December last year, prosecuting agencies filed charges against 347 people suspected of seriously assaulting medical workers and handed them over to courts.
Deng Liqiang, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association's legal affairs director, said more than 20 assaults on doctors resulting in injury occurred in China from the end of May to early July.
Violence against doctors has periodically drawn public attention in the past few years and remains a thorny issue despite policies and campaigns by several government departments.
More than 70 percent of doctors in China have suffered verbal abuse or physical violence, according to a white paper issued by the association in May.
More than 60 percent of doctors do not want their children to follow in their footsteps because of the excessively heavy workload and lack of a sense of security, according to the white paper.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement, "Acts of violence at hospitals should be condemned by all of society."
Security introduced
In recent years, medical disputes escalating into violence at large public hospitals have sharply increased as have random attacks, said Sun Haibo, an official at the Ministry of Public Security's Security Management Department.
More than 70 percent of the hospital attack victims are doctors, and the others are nurses, the ministry said.
Most of the attackers are family members of patients who were dissatisfied with the medical treatment and services they received, but many patients also carried out attacks, the ministry said.
In one case that caught wide public attention, a man fatally stabbed a doctor and injured two others at a hospital in Wenling, Zhejiang province, after repeatedly filing complaints that the doctor failed to cure his disease with surgery in 2013. Lian Enqing, 35, was sentenced to death and executed in May.
A number of security measures stationing police officers in large hospitals have been introduced in major hospitals across the country in the past few years, the ministry said. Sun said that, generally, two or three police officers have been stationed at each major hospital to prevent fatal attacks and handle disputes that may lead to violence.
The police officers also offered mediation training to hospital security guards and helped them to recognize warning signs that a situation may become violent, enabling them to take immediate action.
"In serious situations, the police would apprehend and criminally detain suspects, and in some other less-serious situations they could help to defuse the dispute," Sun said.
