In a bid to protect staffers in a Chinese hospital from a group of people who have picked fights with doctors and nurses, the staffers are advised to don helmets.

According to China's official Xinhua news agency, the staff members at China's Shanxia Hospital were given helmets after the family of a former patient - who died there a month ago after a traffic accident - hired men to manhandle its staff when hospital officials rejected demands for compensation.

The hospital officials were not willing to pay compensation to the victim's family without an autopsy to confirm cause of death, but the victim's family didn't allow it.

Starting that day, the group of people visit the hospital every day to put up offensive signs, insult doctors and nurses and sometimes pick fights with them.

"It's kind of weird, but we have no other choice. For our safety, our hospital decided to give everyone a helmet, including doctors, nurses, accountants and even utility men," a hospital official told Xinhua.