Since a patient’s stabbing of a psychiatrist to death, the authorities are accelerating moves to enhance penalty on violence against medical professionals.

For the past several years, crimes against medical staffs at hospitals have been rising continuously.

According to data from the National Police Agency, the number of assaults committed at medical institutions has steadily increased from 2015 to 2017. As of 2017, there were 9,443 crimes at hospitals, a slight decrease compared to 9,587 in 2015 and 9,579 in 2016.

However, the share of crimes at hospitals out of all crimes went up to 0.6 percent in 2017 from 0.5 percent in 2015.

Crimes occurred more frequently at hospitals than at amusement parks (5,203 cases), internet cafes (5,155), or factories (8,627) in 2017.

Among crimes at medical institutions, the number of assault cases climbed from 895 in 2015 to 1,019 in 2016 and 1,062 in 2017. In other words, about 1,000 assaults occurred at medical institutions per year.

Violent offenses such as murder and attempted murder also picked up every year. The number of violent crimes rose from 266 in 2015 to 272 in 2016 and 277 in 2017.

During the three years, there were 18 murders and 19 attempted murders occurred at medical institutions. Three murders occurred in 2017 alone.

minju9minju@docdocdoc.co.kr

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