Campaign launched to minimize medical disputes

Nine Chinese governmental departments announced over the weekend that they had joined forces to minimize medical disputes, reduce related crimes and ensure safety in the industry.

The nine departments, including the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, jointly issued their plan on Friday and said the nationwide campaign would last one year.

Over the past three years, the commission has taken measures to crack down on the number of medical disputes, highlighting mediation at the same time, it said.

About 85 percent of medium or large hospitals now have police substations, and more than 5,600 of them have set up alert networks with local public security bureaus.

Last year, almost 4,000 mediation institutes in the country intervened in about 71,000 medical disputes, of which 85 percent was successful, the commission said.

Guo Yanhong, deputy director of the medical administration bureau at the commission, said long-term mechanisms to fight medical disputes will be improved based upon the campaign, which will reduce related crime and effectively ensure the safety of medical institutes.