Several days ago, a patient, Wang, needed to be transferred from a hospital in Tai'an to Jinan, in east China's Shandong province. His family called the 120 hotline. An ambulance soon came to take Wang from Tai'an to Jinan. Wang was charged 3,600 yuan ($551) for a distance of just 82 kilometers. The medical fee was a mere 200 yuan.

Wang's family was told by a staff member at the Sente Emergency Center that the ambulance charged 15 yuan per kilometer. In fact, Wang was charged 43.9 yuan per kilometer, nearly three times the stated price.

What happened to Mr. Wang was reported by local media and has since triggered a hot debate on Chinese social media.

The emergency center responded that the price dispute occurred because their employees were the new recruits who weren’t yet familiar with the pricing system. They said they would refund all expenses back to the patient.

According to the Emergency Center of Jinan city, Sente Emergency Center is a private medical institution in Jinan. Xu Xiaoyang, director of the Emergency Center of Jinan City, said that the health and emergency departments of Jinan attach great importance to the case.