My efforts were worthwhile
When I arrived at Peking University First Hospital at 2 am on Nov 25, I noticed six to eight mineral water bottles lined up in front of each of the three registration windows. It is a common method of securing places in the lines, but there was no one else in the registration hall, so I didn’t know who they belonged to.
Because I was the only person in the registration hall, I was pretty certain that the bottles had been placed there by scalpers to reserve places in the lines.
Even though I was first in the line, I didn’t think there was the slightest chance I would be able to get a ticket to consult the obstetrician that my wife, who was pregnant at the time, preferred.
I looked around and found a security guard. I asked him why there were so many bottles, but not a single person guarding them, and also why no members of the hospital staff didn’t organize the lines.
Without hesitation, the guard blurted out, “These bottles were placed here by scalpers.”
Looking at the banner hanging above the registration window that read “Resolutely clamping down on scalping”, I said, “Please clear the bottles away.”
He replied, “Oh, no, I can’t. Otherwise, there will be a chaos when the scalpers come here in the morning.”
When I heard that, I was furious and told him, “If you don’t move all these bottles, I will do it myself.”
The security guard shook his head and walked away to consult his superior. A few minutes later, I was told that I could clear away the bottles myself. The security guard didn’t want to get involved, because of the trouble that was likely to happen later in the morning.
I called a police station close to the hospital and reported the scalpers. Then I threw all the bottles into a trash can.
The police arrived, but told me it was hard for them to arrest the scalpers because of a lack of solid evidence.
Nothing happened until around 6 am, when a short, stout man in his 40s came up to me. He paced around for a while, and then suddenly put a bottle on the ledge in front of the registration window.
He claimed he should stand in front of me. “I waited here earlier last night,” he said.
I replied, “All the people in the line witnessed that I was the first person here.” I had one hand clenched in a fist. I don’t know if the scalpers were deterred because I was hard to deal with or because the police were outside the hospital, but there was no fight, and I finally obtained a ticket.
However, I saw two people cut in front of two women who were in the third and fifth places in the other two lines.
The day before I went to the hospital, I tried to book a ticket to see a senior doctor via the telephone hotline and also via the website set up by the Beijing medical authorities.
However, the tickets had sold out. The only appointments available were with junior doctors, but we wouldn’t be able to see one for 22 days.
That left me with no option but to go to the hospital early the next morning to buy a ticket to see a senior doctor.
My son was born in the hospital on Jan 30. When I looked at him for the first time, I felt the efforts I had made — waiting for hours in the cold early mornings — had been worthwhile.