Protect the sick, don't forget to protect the healer

Faced with the increasing number of assaults on medical staff at a number of medical facilities, the Ministry of Health has just sent an official dispatch to the Directors of the Departments of Health of provinces and centrally-run cities; Directors of hospitals and institutes with beds under the Ministry of Health; Heads of Health of ministries and branches, requesting urgent implementation of measures to ensure security and safety for patients and medical staff.

According to the Ministry of Health , since the beginning of 2025, there have been three consecutive cases of patients' relatives assaulting medical staff at medical facilities.

Specifically, the incidents occurred at Chu Se District Medical Center ( Gia Lai ) on March 31, 2025; Thanh Ba District Medical Center (Phu Tho) on April 28, 2025 and Nam Dinh Provincial General Hospital on May 3, 2025.

These behaviors not only disrupt order, security, and safety of the hospital, but also seriously affect medical examination and treatment activities, threaten the lives, spirit, and health of medical staff, and reduce the motivation and dedication of medical staff.

Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Health has requested its affiliated units to deploy a series of urgent solutions. First of all, it is necessary to urgently review, consolidate and strictly implement measures to ensure security and order as prescribed in Article 114 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023.

Facilities need to proactively develop plans to prevent and respond to situations of disturbance and assault; at the same time, strictly implement issued instructions, such as Official Dispatch No. 4245/BYT-KCB dated August 9, 2022 and Official Dispatch No. 855/KCB-QLCL&CĐT dated July 5, 2023 of the Ministry of Health.

In addition, units need to urgently review and install security camera systems in key areas such as the Examination and Emergency departments, duty rooms, administrative corridors, hospital entrances, etc. At the same time, increase security forces, ensuring 24/7 duty at key locations to promptly handle arising situations.

One of the important solutions is to strengthen coordination with the police and local authorities. Units need to proactively exchange information, strictly handle violations of the law, regularly assess the security and order situation to have appropriate support measures. This work must closely follow the Coordination Regulation No. 03/QCPH-BCA-BYT between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Health signed on November 18, 2024.

In addition, the Ministry of Health requires medical examination and treatment facilities to review the process of receiving and handling emergency cases and medical examinations, and at the same time increase the application of information technology in medical examination and treatment management such as implementing electronic medical records, online medical examination registration, and examination by time frame... to reduce workload, shorten waiting time, and limit the risk of conflicts between medical staff and patients.

Education on professional ethics and codes of conduct also needs to be focused on. The Ministry of Health recommends that units organize training on communication skills and situation handling for medical staff; at the same time, strictly handle cases of violation of professional regulations and ethics.

The Ministry of Health emphasizes that ensuring security and safety in medical examination and treatment facilities is a central and regular task, aiming to build a civilized, safe and friendly medical examination and treatment environment for patients and medical staff.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded that 8-40% of health workers have experienced physical violence while working. After the Covid-19 pandemic, medical violence has tended to increase, especially in public facilities that are facing severe staff shortages. The lack of time to communicate and interact makes patients and their families easily frustrated, reducing trust in the health system.

According to information from the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, in order to respond to the situation of violence against medical staff, the Department has directed hospitals to implement many urgent solutions to tighten security and improve the quality of patient care.

In the emergency department - a place where stress can easily occur, hospitals are required to organize a strict screening process, limiting the admission of cases that do not have emergency indications. Instead, hospitals can admit patients who meet the criteria, or arrange a patient room for short-term monitoring for cases that do not meet the criteria.

Security forces have also been increased at the emergency department to support triage and guide relatives to properly follow the regulation "each patient has only one caregiver".

Hospitals are encouraged to provide lockers for relatives to store personal belongings before entering the treatment area. In the event of a disturbance, security personnel must immediately contact the local police for timely assistance.

Along with solutions to protect medical staff, Ho Chi Minh City has placed special emphasis on improving communication in hospitals. Hospitals are required to increase information exchange with relatives of patients during treatment in the emergency department to reduce anxiety and prevent unnecessary misunderstandings.

The Department of Health also encourages social work departments to send staff to coordinate with medical staff to support in the emergency department - a soft approach to maintain safety while still maintaining closeness and humanity in the medical examination and treatment environment.

Mr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) said that there are currently many regulations on improving service attitude and professional ethics, emphasizing the principle of "taking the patient as the center".

However, he also frankly admitted that the health sector is under great pressure: each year there are about 200 million visits for examination and treatment, with the number of patients reaching hundreds of thousands each day. Many hospitals are overloaded, with some receiving nearly ten thousand visits a day, exceeding the capacity of the existing facilities and human resources.

“Too much pressure can easily cause stress for both medical staff and patients. In such circumstances, we hope to receive sympathy and understanding from the public so that medical examination and treatment activities can be maintained effectively and safely,” Mr. Duc emphasized.

He also affirmed that the goal in the coming time is to minimize unnecessary pressure on both sides. To do that, it is necessary to synchronously deploy solutions: from building a more professional reception process, training medical staff in handling situations, to strengthening close coordination with functional forces when necessary.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/bao-ve-nguoi-benh-khong-quen-bao-ve-nguoi-chua-benh-d283032.html