The Ministry of Health has promised measures to improve patient's confidence in doctors after a number of scandals, said ministry spokesman Deng Haihua on Thursday.

Moreover, the ministry has ordered a thorough investigation into one particular recent accusation of medical negligence, said another senior official of the Health Ministry, Zhao Minggang, who also called on all medical workers to be extremely careful and prudent when treating patients.

The case under investigation concerns a baby mistakenly diagnosed as stillborn in October in a hospital in south China's Guangdong province. Medical workers wrapped the infant in a plastic bag and discarded it, only for relatives to later discover it was still alive.

Huang Lichuan, director of the hospital's department of obstetrics and gynecology, confessed that the nurses had made a wrong diagnosis due to a "shortage of experience."

The incident joins a number of other recent medical scandals in fueling tension between doctors and patients.

In September, the father of an ill boy, skeptical of the doctors' diagnosis and treatments, reportedly made a record of all the talks, consultations and treatments that took place.

The father explained that his suspicion mounted after he copied the boy's medical records and showed it to pediatricians in other hospitals, and they told him that his son's condition was not as serious as the doctor in charge had described.

The scandals have shown that hospitals face mistrust among patients, and such a situation will impact upon treatment and even threaten lives, Deng said. The ministry will reform the medical service system to try to solve the problem, he said.

Moreover, Deng urged efforts to promote medical ethics and intensify medical quality management.

Furthermore, an independent third-party mediation system for medical disputes should be established to offer fair and impartial mediation services, promote communication between the two parties and protect the rights and interests of the two parties, Deng said.

However, Deng condemned recent violent attacks by dissatisfied patients against medical workers.

In September, a 43-year-old surgeon in Beijing Tongren Hospital was stabbed by a patient. According to local media reports, the injuries were serious but not life-threatening. The attack was believed to have been triggered by a medical dispute in which the patient alleged that the surgeon had committed malpractice during an operation.

Zhao called for more understanding from the public as there are in-built risks in medical treatments and the results might fall short of patients' expectations.

If patients have doubts, they can negotiate with the hospitals or ask health administrative authorities to solve them, Zhao said, or they can resort to court or mediation procedures.