Flying start for hospital hotline

BEIJING - Feng Yumei used to spend hours waiting in line to get an appointment with a doctor at one of the capital's crowded hospitals. On Wednesday it took just one minute.

The difference this time was that she was able to call ahead using 114, a free 24-hour hotline on trial at city clinics.

"It's a real time-saver and helped me to better plan things," she said at the outpatients department of China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Chaoyang district. "Previously, I had to come before 7 am to register for an appointment and often left empty-handed because of the crowds scrambling for limited spaces."