Two hospital officials were sacked by authorities after they allegedly encouraged a 54-year-old nurse to drink, causing her to collapse and fall into a coma, the official people.com.cn reported today.

The nurse, identified as 54-year-old Zhou Liyan, fell into a coma moments after the drinking session with two hospital officials and another nurse during lunch on 5 March.

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Zhou, who was a nurse at a general hospital affiliated to the Huaibei Mining Group in Anhui province, reportedly drank three bottles of white wine and 10 bottles of beer.

The female nurse suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where she was in coma for more than 40 days already. Attending doctors said the nurse may be in a vegetative state.

The report about the nurse the fell into a coma after drinking with her bosses caught the ire of Chinese netizens, who suspected that the two hospital officials forced her to drink during lunch time. The hospital has an existing regulation against drinking alcohol beverages during lunch time.

"The hospital officials should have stopped the nurse from drinking too much. Three bottle of Chinese white wine and several bottles of beer? Who could stand that?" one netizen posted on his social media account.

The two hospital officials - the hospital head identified only as Zhu and the hospital's Party committee secretary identified as Liu - have already been removed by officials for allowing the nurse to get drunk despite the existing alcohol ban, state media reported.

It was not the first time that Chinese bosses got criticized for encouraging, or even forcing, their subordinates to drink even during office hours.

Last year, the Chinese cyberspace was abuzz with reports that some company officials were measuring the amount of bonuses they were giving their employees based on the amount of liquor they can consume.