Taobao removes link to hospital booking site  

遭卫生局质疑 淘宝暂停北京医院预约挂号服务

淘宝网在20日宣布与挂号网达成合作，推出了一款生活应用医院挂号，但这一做法遭到北京卫生局的质疑和反对。对此，淘宝网23日发布公告称，鉴于北京预约医院挂号平台的强烈要求，与其合作的挂号网将暂停链接北京地区预约挂号平台。

Hangzhou (ECNS) -- Taobao, China's largest online retail site, said Thursday that its hospital appointment service website had removed a link to Beijing's unified appointment booking platform.

Taobao had launched a free online appointment platform in cooperation with a non-profit service website (Guahao.com), allowing users to book appointments with 70,000 doctors at more than 600 hospitals in 18 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

But the move aroused dissent from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau on Wednesday. Citing the existence of its own city-wide appointment booking platform (bjguahao.gov.cn), the spokesman of the bureau Zhong Dongtao said that no for-profit website, organization or individual is permitted to commercially exploit the platform.

Taobao's promotion has misled consumers, he added.

Taobao has since issued a notice that users can only book appointments with 18 hospitals in Beijing, in cooperation with Guahao.com directly.

Taobao also emphasized that it is eager to do things for the well-being of consumers, even if it is not profitable.