New law on mental health lauded

Legislation to protect the rights of both patients and doctors

China's long-awaited national legislation on mental health will help improve patients' access to timely and appropriate treatment, a field in which the nation still lags behind most developed countries, said a senior health official.

Currently, China can only provide around 1.6 hospital beds to every 10,000 people, compared to the global average of 4.4, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.