The Beijing News
January 13, 2009

For sick people from the less-advantaged areas of the country, Beijing's top-tier hospitals offer a last hope.

But in the avaricious eyes of criminal gangs, these hospitals shine like gold: The city's notorious "waiting ticket scalper rings" make money by acquiring tickets that give people a chance to enter the hospital for treatment, and then selling the "waiting tickets" at high prices.

Today's Beijing News reports that a man was beaten and stabbed by four men when he was lining up to get a waiting ticket at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital's Maternal and Child Health Care department yesterday morning. Witnesses said that three of the attackers were the "waiting ticket scalpers".

According to the wife of the wounded man, they were asked twice by two different flocks of ticket scalpers if they wanted to buy a ticket. Her husband declined and got into an argument with the second group. They beat him up on the spot; one of the men brandished a 15 centimeter long knife, and wounded the man in the arm before they fled in a taxi. The police later arrested two men who participated in the beating.

After the incident, the hospital started checking ID cards of the people lining up for waiting tickets. Those without ID were asked to leave. A security guard confirmed that some people in the line do not seem to be regular patients: they went there every day to get tickets.

Last December, the police busted a similar "ticket scalper gang", arresting 14 members. The gang had monopolized the business in Beijing's Xiehe Hospital. A ticket which normally sells for 14 yuan was sold by the gang for 400 to 800 yuan.