A doctor was punched and kicked in the accident and emergency department at Waikato hospital on Saturday night. Security is to be reviewed as a result.
The hospital says the doctor was attacked after he asked a man to leave a cubicle where an elderly woman was being treated.
Waikato hospital says seriously ill people are suffering because of drunken fools who attacked doctors.
Chief operating officer Jan Adams says the attack was "cowardly" and not an isolated incident.
She says security screening in the emergency department and a better police presence are options to curb the problem.
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