Beijing, Nov 20 (IANS/EFE): Seven people, six of them nurses, and one security officer, were stabbed to death Thursday in a hospital in northern China in the latest episode of violence in Chinese hospitals.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that the incident occurred when the nurses and a security guard were in a room for employees of the hospital located in the coastal resort of Beidaihe.

In addition to the seven dead, another nurse was seriously injured, Xinhua reported, and added that a suspect was arrested without providing more details of the incident.

It was the latest such incident in a Chinese hospital, confirming an alarming trend affecting the national health sector in which, according to the Chinese Hospital Association, 96 percent of workers suffered verbal violence in 2012 and 63 percent physical violence.

Last year 70,000 disputes were recorded in Chinese hospitals and at least 11 major incidents were reported in which a total of seven physicians were killed and 28 injured.

The motives behind most of the attacks are usually dissatisfaction over treatment or disagreements over bills as most Chinese do not have health insurance.

Doctors also acknowledge that such incidents stem from a lack of confidence in the underfunded health system.

Several months ago, the Chinese government responded with new laws increasing penalties for those who attack doctors or nurses, insult them publicly or cause damage to the facilities.