Seven killed in knife attack at Chinese hospital

A file photo show Chinese nurses preparing medicine for patients on board of the Peace Ark, a Chinese Naval Hospital Ship, at sea in the Philippines, 25 November 2013. Six nurses and a building manager have been killed in north-eastern China in an early morning knife attack at a hospital dormitory. EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA

Six nurses and a building manager are killed in north-eastern China in an early morning knife attack at a hospital dormitory.

(Beijing) dpa – Six nurses and a building manager were killed in north-eastern China Thursday in an early morning knife attack at a hospital dormitory, local media reported.

Another nurse was injured in the attack at the hospital in Beidaihe, a beach resort town favoured by Chinese government officials, but is not in danger, according to local public security authorities cited by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

A 27-year-old man from Hebei province was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack in the resort on the Bohai Sea coast, according to Xinhua.

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Reports gave no information about a possible motive for the killings.

Attacks on medical workers by patients and family members are not uncommon in China, carried out in some cases by people who blame staff for the deaths of relatives.

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According to the latest available data from the Ministry of Health, in 2010 there were 17,243 cases of violent attacks on health care workers.

A Chinese Hospital Association survey in January showed more than 60 percent of hospitals reported that their staff was assaulted by patients or relatives.

Chinese leaders use the resort town, located about 300 kilometres east of the capital, to have a vacation and hold annual meetings, known as a Beidaihe meeting, or "summer summit."