Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    THREE more Shenzhen hospitals are switching to reservation-only services, an international practice, as part of their efforts to upgrade.

    Starting Tuesday, patients hoping to see a doctor at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, excluding the hospital’s emergency room, need to make reservations beforehand through the hospital’s website, WeChat, app, or a phone call to 114 or 12580. Reservations can be made up to seven days beforehand and patients can go directly to see the doctor and make payments either online or at the self-help kiosks at the hospital. Reservations must be made using the patient’s real name.

    “We receive about 5,000 patients every weekday and more than 7,000 on the weekends,” said Cong Min, director of the hospital’s outpatient department.” Meaning the hospital has a visitor flow of about 20,000 as young patients are accompanied by their family members.”

    Cong expects the new reservation rules to greatly shorten waiting times for patients and contain ticket scalpers.

    Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, a major public hospital in the city, and Shenzhen Sun Yat-sen Cardiovascular Hospital, a public hospital specializing in cardiovascular treatment, will also only accept patients who have made reservations to its non-emergency departments starting Sunday. Both of the hospitals require real-name reservations.

    Shenzhen has been pushing for reservation services in its medical sector after the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital initiated it four years ago.

    By the end of October, 9.7 million residents had registered on the city’s medical reservation platform, and a daily average of 50,000 hospital goers make reservations before seeing a doctor. Forty-two percent of patients visiting public hospitals make reservations beforehand, while the rate for city-owned hospitals is 70 percent.