Vic man punched, kicked outside hospital

A health worker has been punched and kicked outside a Melbourne hospital after three men asked him for a cigarette.

The 47-year-old Pakenham man was outside the Dandenong hospital at 3.30pm on Tuesday when the three men asked him for a smoke, before punching him to the ground and kicking him.

Another man chased them off, and the victim is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.