"To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always." This is late-19th century American physician Edward Livingston Trudeau's classic summation of a medical doctor's vocation. Whether a cure is possible or not, a good doctor still has plenty to offer a patient.

It's also the perfect summary of Director Zhang Jianzhen's nine-episode documentary series "The Chinese Doctor." Filmed in six of the most renowned hospitals across China, the series captures the often painful reality unfolding almost every minute of every day in hospitals, amply demonstrating the unstinting efforts of medical staff to cure, relieve and comfort.

The series also brings home the sad reality that failure to cure often has more to do with a patient's finances than the current state of medical science. Particularly poignant is the frustration of Dr. Xu Ye of Nanjing's Drum Tower Hospital treating a man with 95 percent burns. Just when a breakthrough seems possible, he found the patient had discharged himself to spare his family the cost of further treatment. It is not an isolated incident. A month earlier, another patient of Xu has made a similar decision. The patient has since passed away.

But strict medical problems are not the only cause of frustration for the dedicated members of the noble profession. Human nature and the interaction with patients and their families can also bring about problems of another sort. 

That said, viewers shouldn't run away with the idea that florescent lights of Chinese hospitals do little more than lighting up the darker side of life. Far from it. They are, above anything else, places where compassion and other virtues rule. In one episode set in Xi'an, we learn that cosmetic surgeon Shu Maoguo raises money on social media to perform an operation to correct an adopted child's cleft palate.

In short, this documentary is a real eye-opener. For an objective and realistic view of a profession that is doing its utmost to cure, relieve and comfort patients every day, take a look at "The Chinese Doctor" on CGTN Documentary. It airs at 9:00 pm Beijing Time daily from March 19 to 26.