3 hospitals in Shanghai take SMS reservations

March 31st, 2006

Three local hospitals in Shanghai announced yesterday they will begin to set up out-patient appointments, offer medical consultation and take patient complaints through cell phone short messages.

This is the first time local residents have been offered such medical services via text messages.

After a two-week trial, Shanghai Ren'ai Hospital, Shanghai Hushen Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat and Stomatology Hospital and Shanghai Yinhe Hospital, which are all run by a Shenzhen-based medical group, put the "cell phone hospital" program into full swing.

"Patients can reserve out-patient service one day beforehand through sending a short message to 136-0166-6366.

They can then visit the doctor at the reserved time," said Liu Chunlong, a spokesman for Ren'ai.Liu said the program was set up to save patients from spending hours in hospital waiting rooms. Liu noted that appointments can also be canceled by short message.

The three hospitals did note, however, that only a few patients used the service during the trial, some of whom failed to show up for the appointment they booked. Enditem