Alarm over disturbances at medical facilities in Nghe An

Nonsense reasons

At around 3:45 a.m. on December 26, at Quynh Lap Central Dermatology Hospital (located in Hoang Mai town), Nguyen Van Hoi (31 years old, residing in Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province) suddenly set fire to a patient room. The fire quickly spread, and smoke covered the entire second floor of the Surgery department. Hoi was a patient being treated at the Surgery department of this hospital. After setting the fire, Hoi caused chaos and beat a number of patients being treated there.

At this time, nurse Le Thi H. came to intervene and was immediately grabbed by the hair and beaten by Hoi. When he was restrained by the police, Hoi showed signs of being drunk. He said he was hospitalized because of a traffic accident a few hours ago. While smoking in the hospital room, being reminded, Hoi, feeling resentful, set fire to the hospital and attacked others... This incident once again sounded the alarm about the lack of security and order in hospitals.

The association was controlled by the police.

More than a month ago, at Quynh Luu District General Hospital, for many days in a row, the medical team had to work under immense pressure. The incident occurred after a medical incident that left a mother and her child in critical condition, one dead. It is worth mentioning that, regardless of who was right or wrong, dozens of the patient's family members surrounded the delivery room, putting pressure on the doctors. They even prevented the hospital from transferring the critically ill mother to a higher level for emergency treatment, and many people also live-streamed on Facebook with the content "the doctor killed someone".

Burned down the hospital just because of being reminded to smoke.

A hospital leader said that because of the pressure, another obstetrician could not keep calm, his hands trembled and tore the scalp of a newborn baby during a cesarean section. "No one can work if dozens of family members surround the hospital room and put pressure on them. Especially for a job that requires precision and meticulousness like ours," he said. Unable to bear the pressure, the Director of Quynh Luu District General Hospital even had to submit a resignation letter...

Not only in district hospitals with thin security teams, large hospitals in the area are also not immune to this situation. In February 2019, at Nghe An General Hospital, 3 patients' relatives caused chaos and assaulted a doctor just because their request for a doctor to accompany the ambulance was not met. At Vinh General Hospital, 2 subjects Dau Dinh Hieu and Dau Dinh Khoi attacked a doctor, causing injuries because they thought "the doctor did not know how to examine patients".

According to Vinh City Police, the manifestation of disorder at medical facilities is when patients' relatives gather, protest, and put pressure when patients die or when their requests are not met. In the past 5 years, in Vinh City alone, there have been at least 14 incidents of disturbance at medical facilities with varying degrees of severity. Notably, the incident that occurred at Nghe An 115 Hospital not long ago. At that time, the hospital's Emergency Department received a 40-year-old patient who had a traffic accident. Afterwards, some of the patient's relatives showed up and demanded to enter the emergency room. When the security guard prevented them, a scuffle broke out. A short while later, more than 30 other people showed up and caused chaos in the hospital...

Security solutions need to be strengthened

In recent years, the situation of insecurity and disorder at medical facilities has become increasingly complicated, widespread, and increasingly serious. According to the leader of a large hospital in Vinh City, the above situation is due to subjective factors as well as many objective factors. In particular, it is mainly due to hospital overload, and the process of receiving and examining patients is still inadequate and not uniform. The hospital environment is complicated, the management is not comprehensive, the security force is not guaranteed in both quantity and quality, while the supporting security technical system has not yet been effective...

Relatives surrounded the delivery room and livestreamed, putting pressure on the hospital.

“In addition, medical incidents and accidents occur, making people unable to stay calm. Everyone wants to be prioritized and receive the best care when they go to the hospital. However, in medicine, accidents are very unpredictable and difficult to control. When accidents occur, if the patient's family and relatives are not given a clear and timely explanation, they will become upset, use vulgar words or cause trouble, destroy property, and more seriously, assault doctors,” he added.

At a recent conference on coordination between the Public Security and Health sectors, leaders of the two sectors frankly pointed out the shortcomings and limitations that lead to disturbances and insecurity at medical facilities. Many limitations were pointed out, such as the security force at many medical facilities not being guaranteed in terms of quantity and quality, especially the low sense of responsibility, especially in responding to dangerous situations. Most of the security guards avoid and do not perform their duties well. Meanwhile, security measures at some hospitals have not received due attention, there have not been standards for hospital design and construction, and security infrastructure such as security cameras, alarm systems, and access control at many medical facilities are still sketchy.

In addition, another problem is that there are still many medical incidents. Regarding this issue, Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of the Department of Health said that medical incidents are undesirable and unavoidable. However, Mr. Chinh also said that after the incidents, doctors are "hesitant" due to pressure from public opinion. The Director of the Department of Health requested that all levels, sectors and society always accompany and support the sector, and consider right and wrong thoroughly. At the same time, the health sector promises to strive to improve the spirit, service attitude as well as the quality of medical examination and treatment to better meet the needs of the people in the coming time.

To ensure security in hospitals, the leaders of the Department of Health said that in the coming time, it is necessary to strengthen coordination with the Provincial Police, launch inspections and check issues related to security and order at medical facilities. In particular, it is necessary to strictly handle acts of assault on medical staff.