Ministry of Health 'speaks out' about the case of a knife-wielding man attacking family members and medical staff in Nghe An

(Chinhphu.vn) - According to Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health, attacking medical staff while on duty is unacceptable.

The incident of a subject attacking a patient's family member and medical staff at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital on October 23, 2025

This incident occurred at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital on October 23, a subject used a fruit knife to attack many patients’ relatives and medical staff. The incident injured 7 people, including 3 nurses, 2 patients’ relatives and 2 newborn babies.

This morning (October 24), Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health, said that among the medical staff of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital attacked by the subject, the most seriously injured was nurse Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang. Ms. Trang suffered two very serious injuries to her carotid artery and collarbone.

"Thanks to being transferred to Nghe An General Hospital for timely emergency treatment, nurse Trang's condition is basically stable. The other victims' conditions are basically soft tissue injuries, not life-threatening," Dr. Ha Anh Duc informed.

Why is the number of cases of violence against health workers increasing?

The leader of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management said that there are many reasons, including both subjective and objective reasons, leading to the increasing number of cases of violence against medical staff.

According to Dr. Ha Anh Duc's analysis, first of all is the medical staff. Every year, the whole country has about 200 million outpatient visits, with large hospitals recording nearly ten thousand visits every day, the work pressure of medical staff is very large. However, this is a service industry, so for any reason, medical staff need to be tactful, have an appropriate attitude towards patients and their families, and need to be trained in communication skills.

Another cause comes from the patient's family. When a family member is hospitalized, everyone is worried, so it is easy to get angry and frustrated. In reality, most cases of violence in hospitals occur in the Emergency Department and the Intensive Care Unit - where the patient's life is threatened.

In addition, measures to ensure security and order in the hospital environment have not been implemented well. In fact, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Security have signed a coordination regulation and have been implementing it for 10 years now, but many hospitals have not yet implemented immediate measures well.

However, Dr. Ha Anh Duc emphasized that, regardless of the reason, when medical staff are performing their duties, assaulting medical staff is unacceptable.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Health will require hospitals to synchronously deploy solutions from training and educating medical staff on their attitudes towards patients; innovating in ensuring security and order at the facility; innovating in hospital management, enhancing the application of information technology, digital transformation to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, upgrading facilities... to completely resolve this situation.

Hien Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bo-y-te-len-tieng-vu-doi-tuong-cam-dao-tan-cong-nguoi-nha-nhan-vien-y-te-o-nghe-an-102251024100859288.htm