Hospitals to require advance bookings

Patients with nonemergency conditions will soon have to make advance appointments before going to a major hospital in Beijing.

All 22 major hospitals under the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning will stop issuing registration tickets on site for nonemergency patients over the next 10 months. Patients can make appointments through the Internet, mobile phone, telephone and ticket machines at hospitals, Yu Luming, head of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals, said on Thursday.

The measure is expected to ease the excessive crowds of waiting patients, he said.