China pledges to prevent assaults on doctors

BEIJING - Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong pledged to curb assaults on medical workers at a meeting held in Beijing on Thursday.

Liu warned that assaults on medical workers have affected the order of hospitals, threatened the safety of medical staff and weakened their incentive to fulfill their duties.

The government will launch a year-long campaign to enhance security arrangements at hospitals and improve coordination between hospitals and police, she said.

Police will step up efforts against those who intentionally aggravate medical disputes and physically assault hospital staff, she said.

Health authorities will work to smooth the settlement of medical disputes and expand legal channels for patients to complain, while hospitals will be pushed to improve management and supervision of their staff to prevent medical accidents and disputes.

Liu promised that the government will continue reforming the medical system so that hospitals will not be overloaded and needy people will have access to medical services.

On October 25, a doctor was stabbed to death and two others injured by a dissatisfied patient at a hospital in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Four days earlier, a doctor in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, was beaten up by a patient's family members.

According to a sample survey by the Chinese Hospital Association from December 2012 to July 2013, violence against medical staff is on the rise. The annual average number of assaults on doctors per hospital increased from 20.6 in 2008 to 27.3 in 2012, according to the survey, which polled staff and patients at 316 hospitals.