A 37-year-old man is in jail after being subdued by a Taser gun when he allegedly resisted arrest during an incident at the Vancouver General Hospital on Friday, police say.

Vancouver Police Const. Jana McGuinness said in a statement that police were called to the hospital to arrest the man, who she said, was unlawfully at large and is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for breach of parole.

Two officers already at the hospital on an unrelated call, were joined by a third officer, McGuinness said.

When they approached the man, he is alleged to have become violent and suicidal, screaming at officers to shoot him, police said. 

According to Vancouver Police, he attempted to kill himself by pulling an electrical cord out of the wall and sticking it in a cup of liquid he was holding.

"When nothing happened, he threw the cup aside and attempted to flip over the heavy hospital bed. The officers tried to calm him down, but he only became more enraged," McGuinness said in the statement.

The man was tackled by the officers, but still continued to struggle, according to police, who said one of the officers used the Taser in touch mode twice on his lower back.

He was handcuffed and then taken to jail following a medical assessment.