Medical reservation: A promise to both patients & doctors

The Ministry of Health has begun a nationwide reservation system that enables people to register to see a doctor. But there are already complaints as some patients have wasted their registration and others still have to wait in a long queue. The new system may have a major flaw.

It's nine o'clock in the morning at a Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Nanjing, Capital of Jiangsu Province. While most patients are still waiting in the queue for a reservation ticket, Dai Xianling from Hubei is already seeing the doctor.

Dai Xianling, a patient from Hubei, said, "Last time I waited for two days but still didn't get a ticket. I had to go home. This time I made a reservation call before I came. It wasn't hard at all."

But not everyone is happy with the new system. Doctors, for example, are concerned that some patients may miss their appointments without any reason.

Yang Jie, Hefei Obstetric & Gynecology Hospital, said, "There are 2 to 3 patients a day, sometimes we have 6 who don't show up at all."

To make sure the patients can still see the doctor even if they are late, the hospital will reserve the tickets until the next day. But that also means if the patient decides not to come at all, those tickets are wasted. Officials at Nanjing TCM Hospital say they can do very little to avoid things like this.

Zhang Yi, Director of Outpatient Office, said, "The reservation is a one way promise to the patient. But there's almost no penalties for missing the appointment."

The current reservation service mainly provides tickets to see specialists. The doctors hope that patients will at least inform the hospital in advance so the reservation can be transferred to another patient.