Doctors attacked by knife-wieiding patient in Shanghai, latest in series of assaults on medics
Violence comes as police in Hubei province stage a drill on how to deal with angry relatives who storm a hospital after a loved one dies after treatment
PUBLISHED : Friday, 21 March, 2014, 5:00pm
UPDATED : Friday, 21 March, 2014, 5:00pm
Minnie [email protected]
Li Bin, minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said she was concerned by the increasing number of attacks on medical staff by patients and relatives. Photo: Xinhua
Three doctors in Shanghai have been attacked by a patient with a knife, the latest in a wave of assaults against medical staff on the mainland.
The attack came as police in a city in Hubei carried out a drill to practice how to deal with large groups of angry patient’s relatives attacking a hospital.
A 50-year-old man with cancer attacked the doctors at a hospital in Shanghai yesterday morning, injuring the medics, state television reported.
The man was arrested by the police about five minutes after the assault. None of the doctors injuries were life threatening, the report said.
The man been discharged from hospital on Monday.
Police are investigating the motive for the attack, the report said.
The police in Xiangyang in Hubei carried out the drill to deal with angry patients yesterday, according to the People’s Daily.
The exercise simulated more than 40 angry relatives of a dead patient storming a hospital and attacking medical staff inside.
Police officers also came under attack in the drill, the report said.
The exercises ended with three of the attackers shot dead.
A doctor in Heilongjiang province was beaten to death with an iron bar last month, allegedly by a patient who was unhappy with treatment he received.
Li Bin, the minister in charge of of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said earlier this month that she was concerned by the attacks on medical staff by patients and relatives.
People who assaulted medical staff would be severely punished, she said.
