Beijing has started a crackdown on scalpers who use digital devices to hoard hospital registration slots as the winter season has seen a spike in people with respiratory diseases.
▲People line up for registration slots at a hospital in Beijing, Jan 7, 2023. [Photo/VCG]The Beijing Municipal Health Commission as well as economy and information technology authorities have worked with online hospital security teams to crack down on scalpers who resell registration slots for higher prices, according to a recent release from the commission.
The authorities have upgraded their technology to counter the scalpers' technology, while also improved the registration system of hospitals and booking via phones.
They have also made efforts to close loopholes and monitor online information and patients' complaints to locate the scalpers as soon as possible.
The city will build a scalper information base shared among all hospitals in Beijing to prevent such behavior.
Twelve major hospitals and the booking hotline 114 have shared their information of 954 suspected scalpers.
Meanwhile, public security authorities have combed through more than 600,000 reports and found 134 hospital scalpers.
The commission will continue to regulate such behavior and make it more convenient for people to get treatment at hospitals. It also called on citizens to boycott getting slots from scalpers.
According to Haibao News, the Children's Hospital of Capital Institute of Pediatrics only offers online and hotline booking of slots, and there are not many left.
A parent told the outlet that she had to constantly pay attention to the booking platforms and see if there are any people giving up their slots to increase the chances.
According to China Central Television, major hospitals in Beijing have seen large numbers of children with respiratory disease for more than a month caused mainly by the flu, adenovirus and mycoplasma pneumonia.
Guo Lingyun, a doctor at Beijing Children's Hospital of Capital Medical University, said the hospital has many patients and it has made efforts to improve its efficiency.
Doctors have also worked extra at night to see patients through online hospitals, she said.
Due to the large number of patients, the hospital has called on parents to send their children to community hospitals or lower-level hospitals if they are still in the early stages of disease.
Parents should also refrain from sending their children to hospitals multiple times in case of re-infection in the closed environment, the hospital said.
Zhao Chengsong, vice-president of Beijing Children's Hospital of Capital Medical University, said all general hospitals in the city can treat children with respiratory disease and the medicines are also highly accessible, so parents do not need to be too anxious.
He told Beijing Youth Daily that the city has 242 hospitals offering online treatment, and it is more convenient for working parents to use such services after they get off work, which can also improve efficiency.
Reporter: Zou Shuo
