Multiple People Injured in Stabbing at Chaoyang Hospital

原创 Finn Todd theBeijinger

Today at around 2pm Beijing time, a stabbing occurred at the ophthalmology department of Chaoyang Hospital, leaving one doctor seriously injured. Details of the incident are currently scarce but the doctor, surnamed Tao, reportedly received multiple cuts to his arm and the back of his head, according to the Global Times. Witnesses at the scene said that he dropped to the floor immediately after the attack, as others searched frantically for help.

A further report states that Dr. Tao was chased by two assailants, who wielded a "long, thin knife," and that blood stains extended from the seventh floor down to the sixth.

Dark stains that appear to be blood splatters can be seen on the floor of the hospital in the immediate aftermath of the attack

A further report states that Dr. Tao was chased by two assailants, who wielded a "long, thin knife," and that blood stains extended from the seventh floor down to the sixth.

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Several other doctors, as well as a mother and daughter who were witness to the incident, were also reportedly attacked but incurred much less serious injuries. Police arrived at the hospital, which is less than kilometer south of Sanlitun, and have blocked off entrances while they investigate.

Police arrived shortly after the attack. No official news of the perpetrator has been released.

No motive for the attack has been released but the incident comes less than a month after a female doctor at the Beijing Civil Aviation General Hospital was stabbed in the neck by a 55-year-old male. It was reported that the perpetrator was dissatisfied with the treatment of his 95-year-old mother and attacked the doctor, who died from her injuries.

Police work at the scene of the crime

Unfortunately, such incidents are all-too-common in Chinese hospitals, where security is poor and patients or their family and friends often abuse hospital staff who they consider inattentive, or for other perceived injustices. In a recent online study, 85 percent of Chinese doctors stated that they had experienced a violent incident at work, and while these most recent incidents have increased calls for greater protections for hospital staff, this stabbing – at one of the biggest hospitals in the capital – shows that there's a long way to go.