Nearly 100 people, some armed with clubs, fought at a hospital in eastern China earlier this week after the relatives of a patient who died confronted staff, state media said on Thursday.

Fifteen people were hurt and cars were damaged after more than 30 relatives of a patient who died at the hospital in Jiangxi province forced their way inside the building on Tuesday, China National Radio said.

Witnesses who posted online said more than 80 hospital staff armed with wooden clubs and wearing red armbands to identify themselves retaliated by beating the protesters.

"The people doing the beating were very organised. They suddenly burst from the hospital and seized the chance to beat the family members (of the patient)," one witness posted under the name Wo Ye Fan He Tang.

The patient, Fan Runyin, was admitted to the hospital on August 19 after suffering a brain haemorrhage, and relatives said he died on the operating table. The hospital declined to comment Thursday.

Such conflicts have become more common in China, as people protest against the quality of healthcare or corruption in the hospital system.

In 2006, some 2,000 people ransacked a hospital in the southwestern province of Sichuan after a young boy died. A rights group said he had not received treatment because his grandfather did not have enough money.

China's hospitals are moving to operate on a commercial basis, which has also given rise to abuses such as doctors receiving kickbacks for prescribing certain drugs and demanding bribes for operations.

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