BEIJING

An official from an urban construction bureau in central China has been sacked after demolition work was started at a hospital while doctors were tending to patients in Henan province.

China Radio International (CRI) reported Sunday that Xiong Zhiliang, the deputy director of the Huiji district bureau who had been responsible for relocating the Zhengzhou University hospital, had been removed from his post.

The worker who drove the bulldozer that demolished the radiological department and buried a morgue holding six bodies was also placed under police custody.

On Wednesday, around 30 workers wearing camouflage arrived at the hospital with a bulldozer, and three doctors were injured in confrontations while trying to recover supplies.

Liu Chunguang, the department’s director, told local media afterwards, “I was doing an X-ray on a patient when a big hole was dug in the wall. The patient was freaked out and ran away.”

The local government had sought to have the structure demolished as part of plans to expand a nearby road, but was met with objections from the hospital.

The Huiji district government, however, denied knowledge of the demolition work and immediately launched a probe into the incident.

CRI reported Sunday that the deputy secretary-general of Zhengzhou city’s government, who is leading the investigation, said the efforts had been determined to be illegal.

"The Huiji district house expropriation office issued relocation notices to the hospital several times during the year, but received no reply,” Xue Yongqing said. “Yet in demolishing the buildings, the office didn't follow relevant legal procedures. It was an illegal dismantling."

The hospital buildings had been set up more than two decades ago as temporary structures, although Chinese laws mandate that such buildings only remain in place for up to three years.

An investigation into the losses suffered by the hospital, where medical equipment was also damaged, is ongoing.