Senior police officer vows zero tolerance to violence against medical staff

The Chinese police will crack down on hospital-related crimes and show zero tolerance to perpetrators who assault and injure medical personnel, a senior police officer has promised.

Vice Public Security Minister Huang Ming made the remarks at a meeting on safeguarding order at hospitals and promoting harmonious doctor-patient relations on Thursday.

Citing a zero-tolerance approach, Huang said those who assault medical personnel and restrict their freedom should be punished severely in accordance with the law.

Huang demanded police respond fast to requests by medical institutions and disperse those who disrupt order by setting up funeral halls, placing wreaths or blocking the gate or road at medical institutions.

Violence against medical staff have made headlines in recent years, underscoring strained doctor-patient relations in China in which patients threaten, humiliate or harm doctors as a result of frustration, misunderstanding or dissatisfaction.

In March 2014, a doctor at Chaozhou Central Hospital in south China's Guangdong Province was forced to march in a public shaming by relatives of a patient whose life he failed to save.

In February 2014, a doctor in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was beaten to death by a patient.

Hospital violence, however, is gradually being contained in China thanks to better emergency response, law enforcement and handling of medical disputes between patients and hospitals, Huang said.

The number of hospital-related cases of violence continued to fall for the fourth consecutive year in 2015, down 12.7 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Huang ordered better settlement of medical disputes by taking precautions, conducting risk assessment and spotting and containing disputes at an early stage. Endi