Police booths have been set up in 50 Beijing hospitals in the week following the latest violent attack on doctors in the Chinese capital, a police spokesman said Thursday.

Authorities have decided to provide every hospital in Beijing with a police booth to handle public security emergencies, said a spokesman with Beijing's public security bureau.

Beijing is home to the country's most top-rated hospitals as well as the country's most reputable medical practitioners. But Beijing hospitals are also the most crowded, as patients from across the country come here for treatment due to a shortage of quality health care resources elsewhere.

The spokesman said the move was part of the city's "Peaceful Hospital" campaign to address soaring patient-doctor disputes which have frequently turned violent.

The decision to boost hospital security was made on April 18, days after a masked man attacked doctors in two Beijing hospitals with a knife, seriously wounding two medical staff members. The suspect was apprehended on Tuesday in neighboring Hebei Province.

The motive behind the attack was not yet known, and an investigation is underway.

But many past attacks on doctors, which have sometimes turned deadly, were carried out by distraught patients who usually complained about being mistreated by medical practitioners.

On March 23, a 17-year-old barged into a hospital room in the northeastern city of Harbin, killing a medical intern and seriously wounding three others with a knife. The suspect, who attempted suicide after the violent episode, said he was angry that his disease was not properly treated.

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