Patients wait in long lines outside the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University on Monday, February 25, 2008. [Photo: chinanews.com.cn]

For 50 to 200 yuan, patients can bypass queues in two major public hospitals in Guangxi.

At the People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, payment of an additional fee grants priority admission to those who can afford to pay, a policy which has prompted great dissatisfaction among patients, chinanews.com.cn reported on Tuesday.

The service, called "clinic for special demands," includes services tailored to meet demands ranging from priority admission to all-inclusive escort and nurse consultation packages. After the "special" bill is paid, patients are admitted to the appropriate clinical departments for treatment at the cost of others waiting even longer in the crowded hospital halls, a scene not unusual in prestigious hospitals throughout China.

"It will never be my turn if only wealthy people come to see the doctor! It's very unfair when there are only two people in front of you, but people continue to squeeze in," one patient complained.

A professor surnamed Liu from one university in Guangxi said that this "special" clinic issued by the two hospitals is a form of medical discrimination, depriving the unprivileged majority of their equal right to public medical resources, and is therefore detrimental to social harmony.

Some other scholars give nod to the service but suggest that the income from the "special" charge be used to subsidize needy patients who couldn't afford hospital treatment.

(CRI February 27, 2008)