The 12320 public health hotline has been running in Beijing for over two years since its initial launch in 2006. 12320, a good helper for all citizens, provides the following services: publicity of hygiene and disease prevention knowledge, medicare consultancy, handling reports of public health emergencies and major epidemics, as well as complaints on food, environmental and drinking water hygiene, illegal medical practice, etc.

 According to statistics, in 2008, 12320 received a total of 484,504 service requests of all types, nearly doubling the 249,696 figure in 2007. It also received 1,039 SMS, 1,015 emails and 265 messages on its website for relevant consultation, and witnessed that the website clicks reach 138,238 times.

Seen from the calls made by citizens in 2008, most callers are asking medicare-related questions, accounting for 17.8% of the total. Other major consulting topics are planned immunization, Sanlu milk powder incident, infectious disease prevention, influenza vaccination, household cockroach elimination, etc.

The hot issues are centered on the implementation of health policies for benefiting people and the settlement of major public health emergencies. Whenever a people-oriented health policy is introduced, 12320 would immediately receive many consultation calls. For instance, Beijing has implemented such policies as free screening of cervical cancer and breast cancer for women at the child-bearing age, free hepatitis A vaccination and pit and fissure sealant for school-age children, municipal networking of 512 vaccination clinics, free or low-cost influenza vaccination for senior citizens aged above 60 and elementary and middle school students, promotion of chronic disease community management -- “self-awareness health management” model, free household cockroach elimination, etc.
In particular, due to the Sanlu milk powder incident, 12320 received a daily record number of 22,890 incoming calls on September 17, 2008, hence the hottest public advisory topic of the year. In addition, citizens have given a high degree of attention to the Fuyang hand-foot-mouth disease from the initial media reports in April till the end of July, which emerged as the most sustained hot issue of the year.

In 2008, 12320 received 6,850 medicare complaints on such issues as medical charges, medicare quality, hospital management, medical services, medical ethics, illegal medical practices, etc. 6,516 complaints, accounting for 95.12% of the total, got resolved thanks to the coordination efforts of 12320 operators. 334 complaints were forwarded to relevant institutions, all of which were meticulously dealt with and 80% were settled. The concerted efforts have contributed to a high satisfaction rate of 99.49% according to an operator service satisfaction survey conducted among 101,302 people. In 2009, 12320 will strive to constantly upgrade its functions, and provide even more timely and convenient healthcare consulting services for all citizens.

The 12320 Public Health Hotline Service Time:

1 Public hygiene and disease prevention knowledge, medicare guidelines ---- 8:00—18:00 operator service, voice service during the night.

2 Around the clock operator service for reporting of public health emergencies and major epidemic outbreaks, reporting and complaints of food, environmental, drinking water hygiene and illegal medical practices.