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Five in jail for scuffle at hospital

By Qian Yanfeng and Tao Zhihao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 09:09

Five people have been arrested in connection with a June melee between doctors and family members of a deceased patient.

After 49-year-old patient Yang Junbin died of kidney failure on June 21 at the No 1 Hospital of Nanping, Fujian province, relatives scuffled with doctors and nurses, leaving seven family members and five hospital staff members injured.

A brief statement on the local security bureau's website on Monday said investigation officers had detained five and three others were given bail, but no other details were available.

Shortly after the brawl, the hospital paid 210,000 yuan ($30,700) in compensation to the patient's relatives at the request of the local government, which hoped to put a stop to the dispute. However, nearly 100 doctors and nurses later protested the hospital's compensation to the family on June 23.

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The protest was staged at the headquarters of the local government.

The medical staff claimed it was improper to dole out compensation before results of the investigation into the patient's death was released. The doctors and nurses also said the patient's family had maliciously stirred up a fuss to receive compensation.

The hospital staff members blamed local police for failing to take prompt action to resolve the conflict, and asked for government intervention to crack down on those who threaten safety at hospitals.

The brawl comes after a report by Nanping's bureau of health found that medical disputes in the city were on the rise. Statistics show 156 medical dispute cases were registered from 2002 to October 2006. This figure rose to 554 from 2006 to 2008.

Meanwhile, total compensation had increased from 1,252,000 yuan to 11,714,000 yuan, according to China News Weekly. Six days after the brawl, a doctor from a hospital in Sanming, another city in Fujian, suffered multiple injuries after jumping from the fifth floor of a building to avoid an attack from relatives of an infant girl who died at the hospital.

A Nanping bureau of health spokesman said increased awareness among patients on their legal rights is one of the primary reasons behind the rise in medical disputes.

Wang Junping, deputy party secretary of Nanping's People's Hospital, has said that by repeatedly making concessions to avoid medical disputes, hospitals are encouraging patients to raise unreasonable demands.

The report from the health bureau said some people had pretended to be relatives of the patients to deliberately seek compensation. The municipal public security bureau of Nanping issued a notice on Monday on its website that the local government had launched a four-month campaign to crackdown on those who deliberately provoked conflict between hospitals and patients' relatives.