From the New York Times:
Some 2,000 people mobbed and ransacked a hospital in southwestern China on Friday in a dispute over medical fees and shoddy health care practices, a human rights group said Sunday.
At least 10 people were injured when the police broke up the demonstration at Guang’an City No. 2 People’s Hospital, said the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Hong Kong.
The unrest erupted after a 3-year-old boy died in the hospital, where he had been taken for emergency treatment after ingesting pesticides. Reports conflicted about how much medical care he had received… [Full Text]
NOTE: Guang’an is the birthplace of Deng Xiaoping
China Daily’s “scoop” – Pesticide (not hospital) to blame for boy’s death in SW China
For interesting background on the myriad problems of China’s rural hospitals, see Matt Forney’s piece “China’s Failing Health Care System” written for TIME Asia during the SARS period.
Technorati Tags: China, Sichuan, social unrest
