THE Guangdong Provincial Commission of Health and Family Planning on Friday evening issued a notice asking hospitals to cooperate with local public security departments to set up police stations in hospitals or have police regularly patrol nearby so they can quickly respond to violence.

    It also demanded hospitals put up surveillance cameras and install police alarm equipment.

    The notice came after a physician was injured by a patient in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, on Wednesday. The police in Huizhou said Sunday that the suspect, whose surname is Liao, has confessed to the attack on the doctor, Ou Lizhi, from Longmen County People’s Hospital.

    A police investigation said that Liao stabbed Ou with a knife after Ou refused to respond to his inquiry about his headaches. Ou asked him to go to the outpatient department because she was not on duty at the hospital that day. Ou’s right hand and left arm were injured.

    Liao said he harbored hatred for the doctor because he believed medicine she prescribed was to blame for his chronic headaches.

    Tian Wuhan, director of the Guangdong Medical Association, said frequent hospital violence has not only inflicted physical injuries and psychological trauma on medical workers but also damaged relationships between doctors and patients.

    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. In June alone, 12 cases of violent attacks on medical workers occurred in hospitals nationwide.

    From December 2013 to December 2014, prosecuting agencies filed charges against 347 people suspected of seriously assaulting medical workers and handed them over to courts.

    In a poll published in May by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, some 13 percent of 12,600 doctors surveyed said they had been physically assaulted by their patients last year, and nearly 60 percent had been verbally abused. Doctors said they felt they were not respected and their personal security was not protected in the workplace.

    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 sense of security, the white paper said.

    Security tightened

    In recent years, medical disputes escalating into violence and random attacks at large public hospitals have sharply increased, said Sun Haibo, an official at the Ministry of Public Security’s Security Management Department.

    More than 70 percent of 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 during the past few years, the ministry said. Sun said that 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 teach 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; in some other less serious situations, they could help to defuse the dispute,” Sun said.

    Deng, from the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, said boosting security in hospitals has increased doctors’ sense of safety, but security guards need more training to cope with various incidents.

    “We have seen security guards just stand by and do nothing when doctors are threatened,” he said. “It is still a question of how to improve their ability to deal with violence.”

    Sun said some top public hospitals have improved their monitoring systems.

    “They have invested millions of yuan in upgrading audio and video surveillance systems, especially at entrances and exits and at outpatient departments,” he said.

    “Once an emergency happens, the hospital will immediately rush security guards to the scene to control the situation and then report it to police to prevent fatal incidents.”

    Sun said the police should work closely with hospitals to establish a joint action system to deal with such crimes.

    “We will increase the police presence in hospitals and severely punish the culprits. Hospital departments should do their part to strengthen security measures.”

    He proposed establishing security posts at the main gates in some pilot hospitals nationwide and X-ray machines similar to those used in the subway to examine bags and luggage to prevent prohibited items such as guns and knives from entering hospitals.

    Disputes fall

    According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, violence against medical workers eased last year amid a joint campaign by several ministries. Medical institutions in China provided 7.6 billion treatments last year, an increase of 300 million year-on-year, while the number of legal violations involving medical workers fell by 10.6 percent and medical disputes by 18 percent, the commission said.

    “Laws should help improve the work environment for doctors, which would require efforts from different sectors of society,” the commission said.

    Recently, a draft amendment to the Criminal Law was proposed, stating that those who commit violence against medical workers or disrupt hospitals could face up to seven years in prison.

    The draft was reviewed in June by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislature, and is now on its website to solicit public opinion until Aug. 5.

    If approved, “the law will definitely reduce violations against hospitals and medical staff,” said Deng, of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association.

    “Including punishment for activities such as blocking hospital entrances or refusing to remove the bodies of deceased ones in the Criminal Law, the most severe law in China, sends a message to all of society of the firm resolution to fight such activities,” he said. “The law will also improve the sense of security for medical staff.”

    Less care

    Zhang Yanling, president of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, said more humanitarian education is needed in medical schools in China to ease tension in doctor-patient relationships.

    “Hospitals are becoming bigger, and their medical equipment is becoming more advanced. The number of patients keeps growing, but in general, doctors are showing less care for patients,” he said.

    Deng said many doctors fail to provide enough psychological care for their patients, which may cause tension and disputes. But having too many patients makes it difficult for doctors in big hospitals to care for each one individually.

    “A doctor may see 60 or more patients in half a day. It’s very difficult for them to have thorough exchanges with patients when they see so many others waiting in line,” he said.

    Most public hospitals rely on the fees they collect from patients as a major source of income because of insufficient government investment.

    Li Jia, an emergency room doctor at Peking University People’s Hospital, said the keys to resolving tense doctor-patient relationships lie in continuing to reform the health-care system so that patients will not be excessively concentrated in big hospitals and to increase investment in public hospitals so that they will focus more on patient care than seeking profits.

    (SD-Agencies)