This is the chilling moment a security guard appeared to welcome an invisible 'ghost patient' into a private hospital in Argentina.

The worker was at the reception desk when the lobby's sliding doors seemed to open on their own at the Finochettio Sanatorium in Buenos Aires before dawn on November 11.

CCTV footage shows the guard rising from his seat to remove the belt barrier and allow the spectral visitor inside as he appeared to scribble on his clipboard while chatting with the unseen entity.

He then pulled up a wheelchair and offered it to the guest before pushing it back against the wall and seemingly directing the phantom down the corridor.

Local media reported that the guard had registered a deceased patient who had died a day before at the hospital.

However, Guillermo Capuya, media relations director of the institution, quickly dispelled the claims of any supernatural goings-on.

He clarified that the entrance had been malfunctioning, adding the guard may have been playing a prank.

He said: 'As it was broken, it opened by itself 28 times during the 10 hours between Thursday night and Friday early morning.

'I don't know if to make a joke or what, but it went viral. What I don't believe in is ghosts.

'They said that the person registered someone who had died, and that is not there, there is nothing, there is no record log that shows this person. He says it, the name is not registered.'