A patient burst into a doctor's office treatment room, attacking and injuring a doctor at Peking University Sixth Hospital, the hospital's official microblog announced Friday.

The suspect hit the back of the doctor's head with a hammer. The doctor, surnamed Huang, is an associate chief physician specializing in treating mental diseases and addictions to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, The Beijing News reported.

The injured doctor is out of danger, the hospital said in its statement.

The incident occurred two days after two nurses in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were beaten by patients after the nurses refused to let patents jump the line, reported Beijing Youth Daily.

They also follow a spate of violent incidents in recent months including two officials attacking a doctor and a nurse in a hospital in Nanjing, leaving the nurse partially paralyzed in late February.

China suffered 70,000 medical disputes nationwide last year, said Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission at a press conference on Thursday.

At a panel discussion with delegates to the National People's Congress from Guizhou Province on Friday, President Xi Jinping pledged to protect the safety of medical workers, saying any illegal acts that injure them should be dealt with severely.   

Ninety members of the Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Thursday proposed the government protect vulnerable medical workers from disgruntled patients and enact particular public security regulations for medical institutions.

"Some people say as long as there is medical dispute, there is medical violence," said Ling Feng, the delegate who took the lead in the proposal on Thursday, CRI online reported, "but disputes are everywhere and this is no reason for us to tolerate violence.

"Hurting a doctor is a serious crime and should be dealt with seriously."

Being a doctor had become "a high-risk profession," Zhou Liya, a physician at Peking University Third Hospital, told the Global Times.

"We are deeply hurt by continuous violent incidents," he said. "I get furious every time I hear of such incidents."

Weak law enforcement in hospitals makes laws useless, Shanghai University sociology professor Gu Jun told the Global Times.

"No matter how serious the dispute, people should face legal sanction first if they hurt doctors," Gu said.