Foldaway beds sign of poor hospital management

SOME SO-CALLED bed renters reportedly hire out camp beds to patients who fail to get a bed in the emergency room in Beijing Tiantan Hospital, a leading general hospital in the capital. Scol.com.cn commented on Wednesday:

Although an emergency room bed when available can be hired for 500 yuan ($75) for half a day, many patients at Tiantan Hospital still resort to random "bed renters" for a place to lie down and rest, due to the low cost and the lack of sickbeds in the emergency room. The hospital has only 51 for emergency use: The camp beds are hired out for only 22 yuan per day.

The bed "rental market" has been so popular in the hospital that even the hallways are full of foldaway beds.