Image copyright AP Image caption Photos in Chinese media showed partially collapsed walls and piles of rubble

A hospital in China has been bulldozed while still in use, reportedly causing doctors inside to flee and burying six bodies from its morgue under rubble, state media say.

The Number Four Hospital of Zhengzhou University in Henan province was partially demolished on Thursday amid a land dispute, Xinhua news agency said.

Hospital staff told reporters equipment worth over $600,000 was damaged.

The case has sparked outrage in China, where forced demolitions are common.

Doctors told local media that several men in camouflage uniforms showed up at the hospital, in Huiji district, on Thursday, and began bulldozing the building.

Liu Chunguang, director of the hospital's radiology department, told Xinhua news agency he was examining a patient when the demolition took place.

"A gaping hole appeared - the patient was half-scared to death, and ran out."

Image copyright EPA Image caption Hospitals workers hold a banner at the site saying: "We are saving lives while the forced demolition is trashing lives"

Image copyright AP Image caption Doctors said hospital equipment worth over $600,000 had been damaged

Meanwhile, hospital official Yuan Fang told Xinhua that radiology equipment had been damaged and the hospital had had to suspend its activities, forcing many patients to switch hospitals.

"Burying the bodies of patients in rubble is extremely disrespectful to the deceased," he added.

The local Huiji district government said in a statement that the hospital's CT room and morgue were on land designated for a road expansion project, and that it had asked the hospital to dismantle the rooms themselves several times.

The hospital was evacuated prior to demolition, and there were no casualties, the statement added.

However, hospital officials said three doctors and a patient were in the building at the time of demolition, and that some hospital workers were injured when they tried to stop the demolition, Jinghua news reported.