According to a survey distributed by China Youth Daily and Dingxiangyuan, an online medical forum, doctor-patient relationships are deteriorating with about 60 percent of doctors experiencing on-the-job violence from patients or their families. Xinhua reports that lack of medical resources along with rising medical costs have contributed to the problem.
In extreme cases, doctors have been beaten and medical facilities damaged.
Of the 4,353 respondents, all of whom were medical practitioners aged between 25-45, 40 percent admitted to being under severe stress and “sometimes on the verge of a breakdown.” This was not because of career or financial concerns but because of suspicion and mistrust from patients and the public.
Some 63 percent of the respondents said that they felt their health had deteriorated and 54 percent had never exercised in the past six months due to long working hours.
Dingxiangyuan also asked doctors about their long-term career plans. More than half of the respondents said that they had considered leaving medicine and about 36 percent said they were still considering the idea. Only 8 percent denied they ever had such an idea.
In a related story, a man held a nurse hostage in Wuhan after his father died of a stroke at the hospital. See Danwei’s translation of a Jinan Daily report.
