Infant's death in hospital leads to violence

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-04 08:58

GUANGZHOU: Police detained 14 people who allegedly vandalized a hospital after a boy baby died there, local public security authorities said Tuesday.

About 100 family members and friends of the infant's parents, both migrant workers from neighboring Fujian province, destroyed medical facilities in Shiqiao Hospital in Panyu district after 6-month-old Huang Yuxiang died during treatment.

Infant's death in hospital leads to violence

Several policemen hold the furious mother. Police only revealed the mother's surname, Zhang. [China Daily ]

Police in Panyu had to seal off the seventh floor of the hospital, where windows were destroyed, to prevent further disturbance.

"Doctors did not take prompt measures to save the baby, who was on an intravenous transfusion after catching a cold," said Huang's aunt.

Huang's parents and family members asked for "a fair explanation" from the hospital, but they were shown a fake medical report, she said.

"Doctors say it was an unusual death. It was hard for us to control our anger at the time," she said.

The hospital said the infant's parents refused to sign the consent form when Huang was in a critical condition. The hospital, however, still did its bit to rescue the boy, it said.

Further investigation is under way, police said.

Guangzhou has seen a rising number of mass disturbances in the past few days, despite the city's tightened security ahead of next year's Asian Games.

More than 30 migrant workers from Hunan province attempted suicide by climbing Haizhu bridge downtown on Monday after a local beer company defaulted on their wages.

The would-be jumpers caused a traffic jam for several hours along the bridge, which has been the scene of many threatened suicides in attempts to draw public attention.

In another case in Panyu over the weekend, migrant workers from Guizhou province brawled with local residents after two children bumped against each other.

The children's mothers - a migrant worker and a Panyu resident - fought with each other and later called their relatives and friends to join, leading to a melee.

The fight, which resulted in eight police cars being destroyed and three officers injured, was quelled only after police detained 26 people, mostly migrant workers.

Local legislators called upon local authorities to "take effective measures" to deal with migrant workers' requests as "tightening security forces has not proven enough to maintain social order".

"People always use extreme measures such as protests and attempted suicides after their appeals are not dealt with in a proper manner by the government," said Zhu Lieyu, a deputy to the Guangdong provincial people's congress.