Crackdown on hospital ticket scalpers won't address supply shortfall, doctor says

The sentencing of 15 alleged hospital ticket scalpers to up to two years in prison as part of a public crackdown on the practice may ultimately make little difference according to one experienced cardiologist being cited prominently by state media, China Medical News reported. Professor Yang Qing, who has worked for two decades at the cardiology department of Sichuan University Huaxi Hospital, argued that the scalpers were a result of low prices enforced within a monopoly, and suggested a free market solution instead. “When a resource is scarce, and when everyone wants to have this resource, the authorities’ fight against ticket brokers is meaningless,” Yang said.