HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health has set a target to reduce hospital violence by between 15 and 20 per cent by 2020.

The target is part of a recently approved plan to prevent crimes and violations at medical facilities between 2019 and 2020 in response to recent cases in which medical workers were reportedly assaulted in the workplace by patients and relatives of patients.

Hospital violence stayed in the headlines last year, threatening medical workers’ health, according to the ministry. The plan is aimed at raising public awareness of the issue.

The plan includes completing all legal documents and regulations on ensuring order and safety for both patients and medical workers at health facilities by 2030.

Last Saturday, the health ministry’s Medical Examination and Treatment Department and the Ministry of Public Security’s Police Department of Administration and Social Security signed an agreement under which police officers will be mobilised to patrol general and specialised hospitals at national, city, provincial, town and district levels to ensure security.

In the first months of 2018, two obstetricians in northern Yên Bái Province were physically abused by a husband and 10 other people after the medical workers, who were delivering his baby, asked him not to climb on the window railing to film the birth.

Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the Medical Examination and Treatment Department, said the number of assaults in the healthcare sector accounted for a quarter of all workplace violence incidents.

Most of the assaults (80 per cent) occurred at national and provincial hospitals. Up to 85 per cent of the victims were doctors and nurses.

Many factors have contributed to the attacks, including drugs and alcohol, psychological disorders and communication problems between health workers and patients.

At least 22 cases in which doctors were attacked by patients or relatives of patients were reported between 2010 and 2017. In 2018 alone, there were three serious cases. — VNS