Top Biz News

Scalpers sell appointments for 3,000 yuan

By Yang Wanli (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-24 10:37

Scalpers sell appointments for 3,000 yuan

Long queues are a common feature of outpatient departments at Beijing's major hospitals. Scalpers selling registration numbers can often make big money. [China Daily]

Haidian police have arrested 16 scalpers for selling appointment tickets at a military hospital.

The scalpers sold registration tickets to see doctors at the Air Force General Hospital at Haidian district for 3,000 yuan, police said.

Registration tickets, which are required to see a doctor, are usually sold for around 14 yuan at public hospitals in Beijing.

The scalped tickets were for appointments with three doctors in the hospital's orthopedics and dermatology departments, said hospital official Zhang Xiaojun.

"They were caught when they sold the appointment tickets to the patients," Zhang told the Mirror Evening News. "The doctors were very angry after learning the tickets were being sold at such high prices."

Doctors working in public hospitals usually see no more than 15 patients a day. More experienced physicians only see patients several times a week, placing their services in even higher demand.

"I trust the experienced doctors, even if their tickets are very expensive," said a 52-year-old patient surnamed Zhu who traveled from Kunming to visit the hospital. "For a patient, good doctors can save more money because they know more about how to treat a disease."

Zhu said she bought a ticket from a scalper for 300 yuan.

For urgent appointments, Beijing hospitals will sell spots at prices ranging from 100 yuan to 300 yuan to see more seasoned doctors.

Nearly a dozen reservations have been sold for 3,000 yuan in Beijing, the Mirror Evening News reported. Most of the tickets were sold at major hospitals, like Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Air Force General Hospital.

"The tickets of experienced doctors are in great demand," said a scalper working near Beijing Jishuitan Hospital. "People are more willing to buy from scalpers in the winter because people cannot bare to stand in the cold all night to try to get an appointment." The scalper said he will stand in line for a day to purchase appointments before reselling them to patients for a profit.

Beijing top hospitals began offering an online reservation system in September. Appointments can also be made via telephone at some hospitals. So far, hospitals only accept around 30 percents of appointments from those made by patients online, according to the Beijing health bureau.