PATIENTS who demand more than 30,000 yuan (US$4,721) in compensation in medical disputes from public hospitals in Shanghai will be required to settle the disputes with medical mediation committees.

The action is part of the city's effort to promote third-party mediation to reduce disturbances at local hospitals.

Starting tomorrow, all public hospitals in Shanghai are not allowed to make direct compensation deals with patients who ask for more than 30,000 yuan, according to a notice jointly issued by the city's justice bureau, health bureau and public security bureau.

The third-party committees, composed of independent members, were introduced by the city on August 23, 2011.

Li Heping, a justice bureau official, said research found medical disputes involving a compensation demand of over 30,000 yuan are usually more complicated and difficult.

"It is hard for hospitals and patients to reach an agreement when the claims are too much. Patients will get emotional and annoyed if their face-to-face negotiation with hospitals fails." If such a dispute gets too contentious, "it is likely to trigger malignant events that disturb normal orders in the hospitals and harm medical staff," Li said. "Mediators will explain relevant rules and regulations to patients and help them make a reasonable demand rather than huge claims that they would never get from hospitals and insurance companies," Li said.

Since August 2011, medical mediation committees across the city have accepted 2,272 disputes and solved 1,623 of them. The success rate reached 71.8 percent and the method proved to be effective to curb on medical disputes, said the city's health authorities.

Despite general success, the mediation work in some areas has not been going well. Only 34 in 100 cases were solved between January and July in Hongkou District.

滬江英語快訊：上海醫(yī)患糾紛人民調(diào)解出臺(tái)新規(guī)，8月30日起，對(duì)于患方賠償訴求在3萬元以上的糾紛，公立醫(yī)療機(jī)構(gòu)不得與患方自行協(xié)商。根據(jù)《關(guān)于維護(hù)本市醫(yī)療機(jī)構(gòu)秩序的通告》，各級(jí)各類醫(yī)療機(jī)構(gòu)將采取設(shè)立統(tǒng)一投訴窗口、公布投訴電話等形式接受患者投訴，引導(dǎo)患者通過人民調(diào)解等法定途徑解決醫(yī)患糾紛。因?yàn)橐话闼髻r金額超過3萬元的醫(yī)患糾紛，往往較為疑難、復(fù)雜，僅靠醫(yī)患雙方難以形成一致認(rèn)可的意見，而且此類糾紛一旦處理不當(dāng)，容易激化醫(yī)患矛盾，甚至造成惡性事件，影響正常的醫(yī)療秩序。?一旦發(fā)生醫(yī)鬧，公安將第一時(shí)間介入。