KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Public hospitals are said to be buckling under the strain of patients and their relatives intimidating doctors and frontline caregivers.

While statistics are unavailable on the apparent rise in such intimidation, one hospital is determined to check abuse, threats and bullying with new operating procedures.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) has begun drafting new operating procedures and educating employees on legal options available to them.

HUKM Faculty of Medicine dean Prof Dr Zaleha Abdullah Mahdy told Malay Mail the spike in the incidence of abusive behaviour had prompted the hospital to seek ways of responding to the problem.

“The abuse is not confined to verbal insults and gestures. Some patients and family members have gone as far as threatening staff with death and injury," she said.

“Others have taken pictures of employees and threatened to slander them on social media over grievances.”

Dr Zaleha said the offenders had, instead of making complaints, seemed intent on taking matters into their hands.

“We have a complaints and feedback system but some people feel they can get away with threats and intimidation,” she said.

The flurry of threats and aggressive behaviour prompted the hospital to organise an internal forum recently to educate staff on ways to respond to such incidents.

This included a session with lawyers Datuk Haaziq Pillay, who advised staff on their legal rights, and Hanieza Fazlina Yahya, who spoke about how tense situations could be defused.

“We are working on a new standard operating procedure for staff facing aggressive and intimidating people. It includes documenting everything that happened to facilitate legal action,” Dr Zaleha said.

“We are caregivers, not gangsters. Our employees are not allowed to shout back or get physical, but this does not mean we should leave them unprotected.”

She said staff were being trained on how to handle tense situations.

The hospital will place signage urging people to be calm and polite, and a warning that abusers will be prosecuted.

“The situation has reached a point where we need such measures to protect our staff. They have their rights, too,” she said.

A hospital employee, who declined to be named, said the number of intimidation cases had increased in recent months.

“Perhaps, people are under more stress these days. It takes less to get them ticked off and angry. Often, they are simply unhappy with hospital policy,” he said.

“The husband of a patient recently threatened to shoot our staff for not being allowed to accompany his wife into the treatment room. Although this is standard procedure at any hospital, he blew his top.”

He said most troublemakers cooled off after hospital security threatened to call police.

“But some continue to cause trouble even after leaving, through threatening text messages and phone calls,” he said.

The hospital, he said, had to review its policies and operating procedures to better respond to such situations.

“How many insults are too many? What threat should be considered dangerous?” he asked.

“Where do we draw the line and alert the authorities? These are the things we are going to have to figure out.”

Resource : The Malay Mail Online