A doctor has been detained after 95 people were hospitalized suspected of being infected with hepatitis C at a clinic in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, local health authorities said Tuesday.

The doctor, surnamed Xue, working as a surgeon at the clinic in the city of Donggang, was detained by local police on February 2 and is being investigated, according to sources with the city's health bureau.

A statement from the municipal health authorities said 120 patients who had received injections at the privately-run clinic were traced and screened for the infection of hepatitis C.

As many as 95 of them are suspected to have been infected with the disease, which the World Health Organization says can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.

The clinic has been ordered to close. A further investigation is underway, the sources said.

Local authorities launched an investigation after receiving a tip-off on January 28.