Why sleeping on a hospital floor can make you money in China
The people in this photo are waiting for the hospital they're sleeping in to open so that they can buy a ticket to see the doctor. They won't go to the appointment though; they'll simply sell their ticket to a scalper, who will then sell it to someone who actually needs it, for a much higher price.
If you want to see a doctor in China you need to get a ticket from reception. The ticket costs a small fee, which covers the cost of the visit. But Chinese Web users and visitors of the Tongji hospital in Wuhan city, Hubei province say that it's impossible to get hold of a ticket; by the time you've queued up at the entrance, the tickets are all sold out. They say it's because of an impenetrable scalping system; evidence of which is captured in these photos, taken by our Observer Wang Haofeng and posted on his blog.
Photo taken last summer. People hired by the scalpers sleeping on a reception desk in the hospital.
Photo taken this winter. The text reads: "The scalpers hold nearly all the tickets, and earn a lot for that".
In front of the hospital in winter. The text reads: "The scalpers are busy selling tickets".
“A scalper earns at least 20 yuan per ticket in return for doing nothing”
Wang Haofeng is a freelance journalist from Wuhan who has tried to find out about the practice. He went to the Tongji hospital and photographed the scalpers with a hidden camera.
The homeless people hired to queue just camp out in the hospital for the night so that they're the first to get a ticket when they go on sale in the morning. It's like queuing up to get hold of a concert ticket.
When I spoke to the doctors at the hospital they told me that they're not responsible for this kind of thing, and when I tried to see with the hospital security service, there were no one there. Nobody is dealing with the problem; the situation's not going to change in the near future. There are also rumours that the scalpers are working in collusion with the hospital, but I haven't got any proof of that yet."
Comments
Scalpers
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Wed, 24/02/2010 - 16:51.You would think in a country that controls how many children you can have that they could handle this problem.
Scalpers in China's Hospital
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sun, 21/02/2010 - 11:36.China is moving towards a market economy, as such all kinds of unscrupulous activity in making a fast buck will occur, a communist state will learn in time of these practices, and will take the only remedy open to them, a 9mm to the back of the head, it is harsh, but dealing in human misery is something the Chinese is keen to stamp out. Ticket touts are common in Europe and the US. It matters not what the tickets are for, the principle is still the same. Lets not get into the moral high grounds of what the tickets are for. I am sure we can say alot about US and Eurpoean unsavoury behaviour. In China, it is very difficult to control every aspect of day to day life, as corruption is rife. It is no different in the US and Europe, comes under different guises in a PC manner, but nonetheless it is still corruption. Trying to make a fast buck out of peoples misery is nothing new. "The wealth of the west is made off the backs of the poor", (Samuel Clements aka Mark Twain). But do not also think that the west has a monopoly on that. The Chinese have been trading for thousands of years, so they know a few things or two about scamming perhaps even a few more that the West have not seen yet.
Obama says we can learn from
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sun, 21/02/2010 - 05:44.Obama says we can learn from the chinese lol
And what does the communist
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sat, 20/02/2010 - 21:25.And what does the communist government about this?
news
Submitted by Unregistered userjoseph walker (not verified) on Sat, 20/02/2010 - 18:09.Have you prats got anything to say about the west.or just the usual crap from our broadcasters in the west.Time you lot observesed yourselves,but to self-opinated and deluded with your ignorant importance.
Nice to see the five mao
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 25/02/2010 - 05:05.Nice to see the five mao gang has found France 24!
Please keep attacking people who report the bad things that happen in China, that will really help your country grow stronger and help Chinese people live better.
You are a true patriot, contributing to your country's development, and improving the image of Chinese young people among westerners.
REPLY TO..... A SIMPLE FIX WOULD BE.......
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sat, 20/02/2010 - 15:24.IN CHINA NOTHING IS EVER TRANSPARENT, I THINK THAT IF ONE SCRATCHED BELOW THE SURFACE THAT YOU WOULD SOON DISCOVER THAT THE SCALPERS SELLING THE TICKETS TO CHINESE IN NEED OF A DOCTORS APPOINTMENT, ARE SIMPLY REPRESENTATIVES OF SOME POWERFUL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. IT IS JUST A WAY OF SOME CORRUPT CHINESE GOVERNMENT OFFICALS FILLING THEIR POCKETS AT THE EXPENCE OF THE HARD WORKING CITIZEN IN NEED OF MEDICAL HELP. I DONT REMEMBER SEEING ANY SCALPERS SELLING TICKETS AT ANY OF THE EVENTS I ATTENDEND AT THE BEIJING CHINA OLYMPICS. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY QUICKLY AND PROBABLY NEVER SEEN AGAIN.
A simple fix would be to
Submitted by Virginia (not verified) on Sat, 20/02/2010 - 10:04.A simple fix would be to require a name on the ticket and that the person seeing the doctor have identification matching that name. There would be ways of getting around it, but that would require much more effort than the current scalping system.