Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    A SHENZHEN hospital is asking those intending to use its obstetric services to register online before it will draw lots to determine who will obtain access to its services, in its latest efforts to fight scalpers.

    Previously, the University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital required pregnant women who had never had obstetric checkups there to make reservations via phone call, but the difficulty obtaining a reservation has been long known.

    Some say that they had to pay high prices for a reservation from scalpers in order to access services at the hospital.

    In order to become more accessible, the hospital, which has increased the capacity of its obstetrical department by 20 percent since the beginning of the year, said it is resorting to a lottery-drawing system.

    Women who are between 9 and 13 weeks pregnant are eligible to register with the hospital either online at http://120.92.136.107 or at the reception area of the hospital’s outpatient building. The hospital will unveil more details about the lottery-drawing procedure as soon as possible after the Chinese New Year holiday.