Editor's note: Violence against medical staff has been put under the spotlight again following an incident where a retired doctor was stabbed by a former patient in south China's Guangdong province. What can be done to ease the strained doctor/patient relationship? Forum readers share their opinions.

TedM (UK)

Those in the medical profession have contact with vulnerable and distressed patients every day. If such patients feel unfairly treated, if they are kept waiting for a long time, if they are not treated sympathetically with reassurance... then distress turns into desperation and anger.

Doctors and teachers in China are paid very little for their services in the most important areas of society. Perhaps if they were treated as professionals with adequate reward for their work, it would attract more skilled and hard working staff. Also the hospital management perhaps should constantly monitor the effectiveness of their service to avoid anger and upsets in the workplace.

The Neurological Hospital of the Chinese Armed Police Force in Tianjin successfully completes the first transplantation surgery in the area of regenerated medical treatment to heal spinal cord injuries on Jan 16. Photo by Yin Gang/Xinhua]

seneca (expat in China)

I went to our people's hospital to get a crown for one of my teeth. Two years back, I thought the docs in this clinic could never perform such an operation, but the young woman did a marvelous job: two appointments, a total of about 3 hours, and the modest amount of 1225 kuai. No red envelope passed from my hands to hers.

But my very first session with that dentist was a sort of a nightmare: there just is no privacy. While she inspected my teeth there were eight other faces staring down into my gullet from right behind or beside her. There were all kinds of comments and questions - "is he a laowai? Yes, he is, can't you see that? Where is this laowai from? How old is he?" The dentist didn't know the answer to any of these questions.

A doctor sees a young patient in a clinic in Chiping county in Liaocheng city, East China's Shandong province. [Photo/IC]

fatdragon (UK)

I have a hatred of hospitals and do not associate them with good feelings. Perhaps if I visited them as often when I was well as when I am sick then my opinion would be neutral. Doctors are, however, generally viewed positively since their job is to diagnose and treat the reason for me being in hospital. There might well be a reason to hate a specific doctor and I see examples of unprofessional doctors almost daily in the UK newspapers where the patient has died. They are certainly not infallible and, in China if not elsewhere, there is always the option to select your doctor and to get a second opinion.

Hundreds of medical personnel from First People's Hospital in Wenling city of Zhejiang province gathered to call for an end to violence against doctors, Oct 28, 2013. [Photo / icpress.cn]

PatrickInBeijin (US)

We pay doctors to treat us and try to help us. We are not robots that can be fixed with screw drivers! We definitely need better education as well as protection of our medical staff!

People queue at a hospital in Shanghai, Sept 2, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

greatlady (China)

I myself lost confidence in some of the Chinese doctors. Maybe they are professionals, but there are some trying to take more money from patients' purses. Once I had a fever with headache, a doctor suggested me to do cervical puncture saying that I may get meningitis, there are few patients with the same condition, the doctor tried to persuade everyone to do the same operation. I really do not know what is going on with my condition and just followed the doctor's advice and did the test. The result turned out to be fine. I was given some pain killers and drops at the end.

A patient is playing the guitar while undergoing surgery on his head at Shenzhen Second People's Hospital in Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, January 25, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Billiam (expat in China)

I am a foreign medical doctor, teaching in a medical school and its affiliated hospitals for 5 years till now. The root cause of mistrust followed by violence is lack of professionalism among healthcare providers, with the next important reason being failed business-oriented healthcare system compounded by corruption at various levels of healthcare delivery. Stop playing blame games. Police cannot stop violence.

A Chinese doctor talks with family members of a young patient as he examines him with a Type-b Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument at a hospital in Beijing, China, 11 September 2013. [Photo/IC]

PNP (expat in China)

There is no perfect system, not even in the most advanced countries; but resorting to violence to make a point is not acceptable behavior.

A Uygur man, Adili, and his doctor, Wu Guosheng, show their confidence before intestinal transplant surgery on April 1 at Xi'an Xijing Hospital in Shaanxi province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)