Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-06-20
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| Doctor Qin after being burned by a patient at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, June 16. (Photo/CFP) |
Frustration,
misunderstanding and dissatisfaction are the new characteristics of
doctor-patient relations in China, often resulting in violence.
To Doctor
Qin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, that tension brought
burns to 34% of his body, and will probably lead to permanent disfigurement.
Qin, 54,
with the radiotherapy department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi
Medical University, was attacked on Tuesday morning, when a patient poured
gasoline on him in a hospital lift and lit it, according to local police.
Qin is
currently in intensive care, and doctors say his condition does not look good.
Even after
he is out of danger, the burns will definitely disfigure him, said Tang
Weizhong, deputy head of the hospital.
"He
said to me in pain, 'What have I done to deserve this?'" said Tang.
"Qin is a good and well respected doctor. He shouldn't have gone through
this ordeal."
The
incident sent shockwaves throughout the hospital, with many angry staff
contacting Tang to express their anger and fear.
"Doctors
are feeling increasingly insecure after all these incidents," Tang said.
Police said
that the suspect, surnamed Wang, had received treatment in Qin's department
three years ago after being diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer.
Only a week
ago, a man named Zhang attacked a nurse on duty at the First Affiliated
Hospital of Kunming Medical University with a knife.
While doctors
are fretting over their troubled relationship with patients, the patients also
have their grievances, having long complained about the difficulty of seeing
doctors and obtaining proper treatment.
Guo Yufen,
a public health official in northwest China's Gansu province, said that one of
underlying reasons is uneven distribution of medical resources.
Patients
flood into big hospitals where quality medical equipment and good doctors
converge, which inevitably slashes consultation times and mars doctor-patient
communication, creating problem-prone medical relationships, said Guo.
The
dissatisfaction has fueled resentment in both doctors and patients. According
to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, there were 115,000
medical disputes in 2014.
As urgency
for change mounts, authorities at various levels are struggling to assuage
public ire, although the results have been less than satisfactory.
In a poll
published in May by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, some 13% of the
12,600 doctors said they were physically assaulted by their patients last year,
with nearly 60% having been verbally abused. Sixty percent of doctors said they
have low job satisfaction, and 64% do not want their children to become
doctors.
Tang
Weizhong wants the public to adopt a proper attitude toward medical staff,
adding that not all patients are easily cured, but that does not mean doctors
do not want to save lives. He added that patients should have "reasonable
expectations" for doctors.
"We
are not just doctors, we are also people," Tang said. "And respect
and understanding are what we, as human beings, need."
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