Proposals to ease doctor-patient conflicts

A CPPCC delegate urges hospitals (or health care providers) to optimize treatment procedures and fairly allocate medical resources to ease the conflicts between patients and medics.

“The doctor-patient conflicts has developed into a serious level, which consistently saw medical workers harmed in conflicts so we must take immediate action to improve it,” Shen Zhongyang, president of Tianjin First Center Hospital, said during his speech at the full session of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress on Saturday.

Hospitals should simplify the current complicated treatment procedure to ease patients’anxiety while the government should deploy more manpower and high-quality medical resources in rural areas so those living in remote areas can receive equal treatment as urban patients, Shen said.

China has been struggling with rising violence against medical workers.

On Wednesday, a young doctor at Chaozhou Central Hospital in southern Guangdong province was humiliated in a forced parade over a patient's death.

Last month, a doctor from Heilongjiang province was beaten to death by a patient over unsatisfactory treatment.

According to a report released last year by the Chinese Hospital Association, 63.7 percent of Chinese hospitals had seen assaults against medics happened in 2012, up from 47.7 percent in 2008.

Shen also urges the establishment of a third-party coordination and arbitration system to appraise medical disputes and issue compensation standards.

“A well-structured and in-detail law system specialized for hospital security should also be introduced,” Shen said.