Shocking Conditions at Beijing Children’s Hospital

By Sheila/Da Yang

Jul 31, 2010 – 8:20:44 AM

(Da Yang) On the morning of July 17, netizen “Flunking Brother” got up early and went to Beijing Children’s Hospital to register. He was shocked by what he saw outside the emergency room door: hundreds of parents and their sick children, bleary-eyed and exhausted from spending the night with nothing more than a few foam pads and thin blankets.  Many children clutched bags of noodles and balloons.

“Flunking Brother” also encountered people engaged in trafficking of hospital services. “There was a team of at least 20 traffickers charging 100 to 300 yuan for information such as individual hospital department phone numbers; for departments such as Neurology, it was as much as 600 dollars.”

According to Beijing Children’s Hospital staff, the number of outpatients has risen to 8,000 per day, roughly half of them children. The number of children increased dramatically once school was out, with a sharp rise in pediatric dentistry, ophthalmology, ENT, and urology among others.

Though hospital overcrowding is a familiar topic, this latest story with its poignant images brought a passionate outcry from netizens.

Full story in Chinese at http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/misc/2010/07/201007270408.shtml

Boxun released a video showing another crowded hospital:

http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/07/201007300348.shtml