A patient in wheelchair chasing to hit a doctor in Donghua Hospital in Dongguan (Photo credit: www.timedg.com)

The fearful nurses and doctors in Dongguan turned to helmets, shields and long sticks for protection following various reports of hospital staff being beaten up by angry, drunken and sometimes powerful patients, Yangcheng Evening News reported on March 11.

Forty out of the 47 secondary and tertiary hospitals have finished building hospital police stations in case any staff member might get roughed up. Most of the police stations are equipped with security gear including police batons, stab-resistant body armour, and more.

“Reports of brutality against hospital staff are so frequent and have taken a great toll on doctors. People used to encourage their daughters and sons to become doctors when they grow up, now 90% of hospital staff are against the idea,” said one executive with a public hospital in Dongguan.”Doctors are humans too, and need security. One gets beaten-up just by sitting in the clinic. How can doctors treat patients without being worried about being beaten?”

The report came days after a doctor in Donghua Hospital in Dongguan was hit by a former vice president of the city’s disabled federation and three of his companions. The male doctor was hit in the crotch several times when the cohorts accused him of not treating the former official in a timely manner. He sustained a minor fracture, China News reported on March 4.

Earlier on February 25, a nurse in a Nanjing Hospital was paralyzed after being beaten by an official working in the city’s propaganda department. The official was detained a week after the incident and was dismissed amid public anger.

Home page photo credit: Yangcheng Evening News