A patient receives emergency aid at a hospital in Hanoi. (Source: nld.vn)
Hanoi (VNA) –
The number of assaults against medical workers climbed to a record high last
year, with 25 cases reported to the police. Hospital violence stayed in the
headlines year-round, prompting both and the
to voice concerns.
In the first months of 2018, two obstetricians in Yen Bai province were
physically abused by a husband and 10 others after the medical workers, who
were delivering his baby, asked him not to climb on the window railing to film
the birth.
This was among many reasons for patients and their family members to attack
medical workers, 70 percent of whom were doctors and 15 percent nurses,
according to the .
The reasons ranged from a doctor’s refusal to conduct a to a
drunken patient, or a doctor preventing a fight between patients.
In another case, the family assumed the doctor’s diagnosis was wrong and hit
him before forcing an apology out of the doctor.
Lawyer Bui Dinh Ung from the Hanoi Bar Association told the Lao Dong (Labour)
newspaper that while some medical workers’ attitude could have triggered the
violence, the patients and their families – the assaulters – were mostly at
fault in those attacks.
“Protection for the doctors and nurses is an important issue and must be
improved for the sake of the (medical) staff,” Ung said.
Ung said most national and provincial hospitals had recruited their own
security force to little avail, as the assaults kept happening despite the
presence of security guards.
“We can see from those attacks that the security force at the hospitals was yet
to play the real ‘security’ role but only to monitor the people entering and
exiting the hospitals. Apparently, they could not protect medical staff should
an incident occur,” he added.
Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital General Planning Department head Duong Duc Hung
told Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper that the hospital dispatched
more security guards to hotspots, for example the emergency room, after several
cases of hospital violence. The hospital director board also worked with local
police to tighten security near the hospital, he added.
Such measures will not eliminate violent actions in the hospital, he admitted,
but at least it is hoped to ease and prevent the assaults.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, who said that the health sector was
alone in the fight against hospital violence and it was looking for better
security through “police posts” inside the hospitals.
Ministry of Public Security Chief of Staff, Major General Luong Tam Quang said
that so far the ministry had yet received an official request from the health
ministry to dispatch police officers to the hospitals, or to allow hospital
security guards to carry supporting gear.
“Local police have always cooperated to protect hospitals. If there are any
police officers to be stationed at the hospitals, it (the procedure) must
follow the law,” he said.
Admitting the working environment was no longer safe for the medical staff,
Nguyen Huy Quang, head of the Department of Legal Affairs under the health
ministry, said protective measures like hiring more security guards would only
treat the symptom and not the real problem.
“Any solutions must include listening to what the patients and their families want
and giving them a proper health consultation,” Quang said.
“The key is to solve the root of the issue.” -VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
