Beijing Hospital Security Given Riot Gear

For people who don't like to visit the doctor in the first place, encountering riot gear-clad guards may send the blood pressure off the scale, now that security personnel at some Beijing hospitals will be dressed more like soldiers than doctors.

In one of the least encouraging moves we've seen in a while, security officers at 21 Beijing hospitals have been issued "riot" and "anti-personnel gear for security," according to China Radio International (CRI).

"The dispensed equipment consists of 840 sets of helmet, stab-resistant body armor, cut-resistant gloves, rubber baton and protective belt, as well as 84 sets of anti-riot equipment, including explosive-proof blanket, fork against armed robber and pepper spray," CRI reported. Wow.

The move comes in reaction to assaults by patients and patients' families on doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees in recent years. All the more reason to get first-aid trained.

Photo: DFIC