Three people have been taken to hospital after stabbings at two health centres in east London, police said.

A 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm nearby and taken to hospital for treatment.

It is understood two people were stabbed in the Tredegar Practice on St Stephen’s Road, Tower Hamlets – a 24-year-old man and a 33-year-old man.

A 77-year-old woman was stabbed in St Stephen’s Health Centre off nearby William Place.

None of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening.

A fourth woman made her own way to hospital with a minor injury and has since been discharged.

The force said the incident, which happened at around 11am, was not terror-related.

The suspect has now been discharged from hospital and is being held at an east London police station.

Farhad Alom, 25, who witnessed the attacks, said the assailants appeared to be Chinese men.

According to Mr Alom, a bystander at St Stephen’s could not get to safety as he was in a wheelchair.

One person was stabbed in the neck and another in the stomach, he added, in what appeared to be targeted assaults.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said she saw the knife attack at Tredegar Practice and a man stepped in to stop the attacker.

The woman said she hid in a side room after witnessing “the entire event”.

A man who was in the area at the time of the attack said: “A man has come out [of the surgery] quite quick so I’ve asked him what’s wrong and he said there’s a man in there that’s walked into the surgery and apparently stabbed an older lady.

“Then an ambulance and couple of CID cars and armed police was here quite quick.”

East London health centre stabbing
The St Stephen’s Health Centre in east London where one person is thought to have been stabbed (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The man, who does not wish to be named, was at the dental surgery next door.

He added that the attack did not shock him, saying: “I don’t want to say it was frightening as we’re getting used to this happening in London.

“So it’s frightening, but it’s real.”

Cordons remain in place at the two health centres while enquiries are ongoing.