Tense doctor-patient relationships intensify
- By Wu Jin
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 20, 2013
Recently, a hundred doctors gathered under the sculpture of Sun Yat-sen to mourn for Wang Yunjie, the doctor killed by a patient at Wenling No. 1 Hospital in Zhejiang Province.
According to the Ministry of Health, China saw 10 violent attacks on doctors in 2012 which killed seven people and injured 28. In addition to the attacked reported in the official statistics, over 20 attacks have been so far been reported in the news in 2013. In just a few days in late October, there were three consecutive attacks, caused by tense doctor-patient relationships.
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The tense of doctor and patient relationships intensifies. [file photo] |
A dentist from Shenzhen blocked out his photo on Wechat, a mobile social online network in China, after hearing about Wang’s murder. Yang Zhen, deputy director of the division of medical affairs at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, said "tense relationships between doctors and patients have intensified rather than alleviated."
Wang Qi, chief physician of the E.N.T section of Beijing Tongren Hospital, said the doctors there are equipped with pepper spray in case of patient violence. Other hospitals have also suggested that doctors do not bring thermos flasks, watches or cell phones into the rooms designed particularly for pacifying relationships between doctors and patients.
According to a highly circulated message on Wechat, a doctor calculated his/her working hours and explained why he/she can only distribute a little time to each patient. Usually, a doctor starts work at 7:20 am, and works until 5:18 pm, a total of 598 minutes. During these working hours, they spend 10 minutes eating lunch, six minutes drinking water and eight minutes in the lavatory. They can diagnose around 192 patients a day, and spend about 2.99 minutes per person in average. The doctor apologized for spending so much time on his personal needs. "Had I not eaten or gone to the toilet, I would have had more time to diagnose each patient," the doctor wrote.
The tight schedule of Chinese doctors is in stark contrast to the standards of ParkwayHealth, a prominent medical care management group based in Singapore. According to ParkwayHealth’s regulations, a doctor should spare no less than 30 minutes on a new patient who books in advance and a minimum of 15 minutes on a return patient.
Zhou Lejin, a cardiovascular expert who has campaigned for private clinics, said that under the current system, the hospitals are managed by the government, not for the patient. But when doctors are self-employed and make the money from their skills, the tense relationship between doctors and patients will be alleviated.
Zhu Hengpeng, director of the Public Policy Research Center of the China Academy of Social Sciences, elaborated on this theory. According to Zhu, a free healthcare market does not simply mean that doctors can set up their own clinics. In fact, it emphasizes doctors' rights to choose their employment. They can build up a reputation and set up their own institutions. By doing so, doctors can treat patients seriously and price treatment reasonably.
However, Sun Mei (alias), mediator for disputes between doctors and patients from Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, says that doctors in public hospitals should improve their services. She said she spotted a person from Jiangxi who was treated coldly by a nurse in a big hospital in Shanghai.
"But in the wards prepared for high-rank officials or retired officials, the nurses treat the patients like their family members," Sun said, "and violence between doctors and patients probably results from the coldness that patients encounter from doctors."
