Ending irrational acts in society

Efforts should be pushed forward on income distribution reform to reduce social discontent caused by the wealth gap

At a panel discussion of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in March, a deputy expressed concerns over the severity of yinao, a term to describe disputes, sometimes violent ones, between patients and medical staff.

In response to such concerns, the State Council made a special revision to the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang to the session, adding to it such words as "efforts will be made to build a harmonious doctor-patient relationship". However, a week after the closing of the session, a knife-carrying cancer patient burst into a hospital in Shanghai where he was being treated and wounded one doctor and two nurses. This violent event once again highlighted the need to stop the escalation of disputes between doctors and patients in recent years.