Video of black market trade of hospital appointments leads to investigation

World Today

A black market in selling hospital appointments is being investigated after a video of a woman complaining about the practice went viral.

Most hospitals in China issue tickets to patients to determine when they are going to be seen in cases of non-emergency treatment. Often the hospital charges for these tickets with prices varying depending on the hospital and the type of medical treatment.

However, with a limited number of appointments each day, a secondary market has taken shape with people obtaining tickets from the hospital only to sell them for an inflated price to patients in need.

Recently, a video of a young woman complaining about the inflated price of the black market tickets at Beijing Guang’anmen Hospital went viral across China.

In the clip, she can be seen saying scalpers were being allowed to jump the queue for appointment tickets before they sold them to patients. She claimed a scalper then tried to charge her 4,500 yuan ($684) for a ticket that the hospital normally charges 300 yuan ($45.6) for.

Story by CCTV News