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A hospital in central China was demolished by force this morning when doctors and patients inside were nearly buried, police said.

A bulldozer suddenly broke the wall of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in Henan Province’s Zhengzhou City that damaged medical equipment and buried six bodies in the morgue, according to Dahe Daily, a Henan-based newspaper.

About 30 people in camouflage uniform rushed to the hospital at 9:20am with the bulldozer when many patients were still receiving radiological inspections, a press officer with the hospital surnamed Yuan said.

They then began demolishing the hospital building on Jiangshan Road that is under a land eviction for a government project to expand the road. The bulldozer worked for over 10 minutes though doctors tried to stop them.

Over 4 million yuan (US$606,800) worth of medical equipment was damaged, while the hospital was soon covered with broken bricks, Yuan said.

Three doctors who tried to rush into the building to rescue other equipment were injured during clashes between the gang. Another doctor who took a picture of the car plate number was immediately taken onto a vehicle by five men to grab his mobile phone. A witness told police that a small vehicle and a van took the demolishers to the hospital.

The hospital has suspended its service due to the damage, Yuan added.

A police officer with the Changxing Road police station of the city said police rushed to the scene after receiving the report and have been investigating the incident.

The hospital refused to be relocated to give way to the road expansion project, an official with the Changxing Road Sub-district said. The sub-district government and a relocation office under the Huiji District government jointly took charge of the relocation work.

Negotiation started last year with the hospital on the relocation plan but both sides failed to reach an agreement.

The hospital has complained to the Zhengzhou City government twice this week that the hospital building has encountered forced demolishing on Monday and Wednesday.

The subdistrict government official denied the government was behind the force demolishing, while a relocation office official declined to comment on the incident.