Policy doesn't ensure safety: medical staff

The National Health and Family Planning Commission's new guideline on enhancing security in hospitals, though with good intention, is not enough to guarantee a safe working environment, medical workers said.

The commission and the Ministry of Public Security issued a document on their website on Tuesday in an attempt to ensure safer work environments in hospitals, suggesting at least three security guards be on patrol for every 100 medical workers, or at least one security guard for every 20 beds.

The document also suggested that hospitals set up alarm buttons in all departments, so that doctors can call security guards quickly when conflicts occur.

In addition, hospitals were encouraged to install security cameras in their archives, medicine storage rooms and major entries and hallways.

Sun Changyi, deputy director of the emergency department at Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing, welcomed the document, but urged the government to do more to protect doctors' safety.

"Violence toward medical workers occurs not only because there are not enough security guards or security cameras, though they have helped a lot in such problems," he said, adding that he and his staff have been attacked or threatened, but not many of the attackers were punished.

"The security guards work as a buffer to keep attackers away, but the police often choose to simply pacify the conflict instead of detaining those who assault us," he said. "Our medical workers do not fight back to protect ourselves because if we do, the police often deem it as a two-sided fight instead of an assault."

A doctor in the intensive care unit at a Guangzhou hospital, who wished to only be identified by his surname Chen, echoed Sun's words.

"Many people, including the police, regard patients and their family members to be the more vulnerable side. Police often choose to communicate with troublesome patients or their families instead of detaining them, unless they turn out to be professionals whom the patient has hired to make a scene in the hospital," he said.

Deng Liqiang, director of the legal affairs department of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, said he hopes grassroots police forces will be more active in intervening in conflicts that occur in hospitals.

"It's not up to the National Health and Family Planning Commission (to provide a safe work environment at hospitals), but a matter of whether public security authorities enforce the law," he said, pointing out that not all police officers are willing to stop fights in hospitals.

The document came one day after Xiong Xuming, dean of the ICU department at the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Guangzhou Medical University, was beaten by family members of a 79-year-old female patient who died in the department.

The reason, the hospital said in a news briefing on Tuesday, was that the family members of the patient insisted on taking the body home. But, according to a provincial-level regulation, remains of patients who died in a hospital should be stored in the morgue of the hospital, who then informs a funeral home to take it, instead of being taken away by the family members directly.

As a result of the attack, Xiong suffered injuries to his kidney, spleen, face and left eye, said the hospital.

In May 2012, the former ministry of health and the Ministry of Public Security issued a statement asking the country's public security authorities to help maintain order in hospitals.