In this country, “going postal” is our workplace-maniac-attacking-fool-paradigm descriptive epithet that says it all. Maelstroms from malcontent males maneuvering mail. But it applies to loosing it in a violent way in any workplace. Other cultures, other metaphors for going postal. Like China.
2006 was the last year that the Peoples Republic of China reported instances of attacks on medical workers by patients and their families. While China is a very big country, the number was rather staggering (and think of what was not officially reported): 5,500 medical workers attacked that year. In the land where acupuncture is king, accuracy might not be. It got so bad in Shenyang in June that authorities ordered police reinforcements for the city’s 27 hospitals, an order that was soon countermanded because it just didn’t look right, and that the cops should not be viewed as personal bodyguards to imperious doctors. New York Times (August 11th).
The problems stem from a local perception – very justified – that the standard of medical care differs for government cadres and the new rich and middle class (class??? In China???) who can afford what it takes versus the impoverished peasants and unskilled workers who are at the bottom of… well… everything. The NY Times presents this picture of the issue: “In June alone, a doctor was stabbed to death in Shandong Province by the son of a patient who had died of liver cancer. Three doctors were severely burned in Shanxi Province when a patient set fire to a hospital office. A pediatrician in Fujian Province was also injured after leaping out a fifth-floor window to escape angry relatives of a newborn who had died under his care.
“Over the past year, families of deceased patients have forced doctors to don mourning clothes as a sign of atonement for poor care, and organized protests to bar hospital entrances. Four years ago, 2,000 people rioted at a hospital after reports that a 3-year-old was refused treatment because his grandfather could not pay $82 in upfront fees. The child died… Such episodes are to some extent standard fare in China, where protests over myriad issues have been on the rise. Officials at all levels of government are on guard against unrest th at could spiral and threaten the Communist Party’s power.”
In fairness to the highest levels of China’s government, they understand the problem, have noticed that coastal and larger cities have shown vastly more prosperity than the rest of the country, that unevenness and high-handed bureaucrats have favored those with power and money, and are taking steps to push the overall prosperity to all section of this gigantic nation. Unfortunately, the global economy is not cooperating, and even China is bearing the brunt of a lower global consumer demand.
Change is happening, even faster than it is here in the U.S.: “By 2000, the World Health Organization ranked China’s health system as one of the world’s most inequitable, 188th among 191 nations. Nearly two of every five sick people went untreated. Only one in 10 had health insurance… Over the past seven years, the state has intervened anew, with notable results. It has narrowed if not eliminated the gap in public health care spending with other developing nations of similar income levels, health experts say, pouring tens of billions of dollars into government insurance plans and hospital construction… The World Bank estimates that more than three in four Chinese are now insured, although coverage is often basic. And far more people are getting care: the World Bank says hospital admissions in rural counties have doubled in five years.” The Times. Let’s just home that “going medical” doesn’t become a habit in China… or the United States.
I’m Peter Dekom, taking it in and spitting it out.
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