Practising medicine has become dangerous in China, The Lancet reports. A doctor and a nurse were fatally stabbed by the son of a cancer patient who had died more than 13 years earlier, and a paediatrician was badly injured after jumping from a fifth-floor window to escape the family of a newborn baby who had died in his care.
The problem lies in how people in China see their doctors. They believe doctors and hospitals conspire to order unnecessary tests and treatments to raise the bill, and that doctors accept "red envelopes" (illegal bribes and gifts). Patients also blame doctors for the decline in health services, accusing them of neglect and lack of experience.
There was a saying in old China: "Be either a good prime minister or an excellent doctor." In modern China, people used to see doctors and nurses as "white angels". That view has now changed.
The Chinese media play a big part in turning the public against doctors. The Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the most widely read papers, wrongly accused a doctor of sewing up a haemorrhoid patient's anus completely. China Central Television (CCTV) reported that Peking University First Hospital let medical students carry out illegal operations, causing a patient's death. Although the hospital and the health ministry explained that the operations were carried out legally under the supervision of specialists, trust in the hospital was shaken.
Most Chinese hospitals are state-owned and were funded by the state before 1985. After China's reforms, funding fell, forcing hospitals to rely on fees for diagnosis and treatment to keep going, which pushes many to overdo tests and treatments. This led the Chinese government to raise hospital funding by increasing taxes on drug companies. Meanwhile, doctors' modest salaries have driven many to leave medicine for more profitable careers.
The Chinese government is now working on changes to the laws that govern the medical profession, in the hope of restoring its former standing.
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