"Let me have a look."

Du Heng volunteered, causing the initially bewildered Gao Qin to instantly awaken. Right, the Dean was still by her side! Why was she allowing herself to be so passive? 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

A wave of relief washed over Gao Qin. The new Director of the Pediatrics Department also looked at Du Heng, full of confidence.

He might even have more faith in Du Heng’s medical abilities than Du Heng himself.

As Du Heng spoke, the child’s father and grandmother both turned to look at him.

Upon seeing that Du Heng appeared younger than Gao Qin, the grandmother immediately questioned, "Can you do it? Both of these directors have already examined the child and couldn’t figure it out."

As she spoke, her eyes, full of doubt and distrust, continuously sized him up and down.

Du Heng was already used to this kind of scrutiny. Gao Qin and the Director of the Pediatrics Department had seen plenty of parents who were even more suspicious than this.

However, such an intensely scrutinizing gaze greatly irritated Wu Shengnan, who was standing nearby.

In Wu Shengnan’s view, when it came to diagnosing and treating patients, Du Heng was an idol-level figure. Plus, he was her husband and the one trying to help them solve this issue. That old woman’s stare was just infuriating! As she thought about it, she acted on impulse, deciding she didn’t want Du Heng to meddle any further, and reached out to tug his sleeve.

However, she seemed to have forgotten that Du Heng was a doctor and the Dean of this hospital. Since he had noticed a problem, how could he possibly stand by idly?

Fortunately, just as Wu Shengnan was about to act, Gao Qin swiftly intervened, saying, "This is the Dean of our hospital and an expert from the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Expert Database. Our hospital’s suggested registration fee for an outpatient consultation with the Dean is 50 yuan, while the expert clinic fee set by Provincial First Hospital is 100 yuan."

"AH~~ That’s so expensive?"

Gao Qin gave a bitter smile. Is this expensive?

Considering Du Heng’s current online fanbase and the recommendations from old patients, if it weren’t for the high registration fee and the limit on registration quantity, Du Heng might not even have time to eat, let alone finish seeing all his patients.

In the past, it was difficult for the Chinese Medicine Department to admit inpatients. But now, some patients chose to be hospitalized just so Du Heng could see them once during his weekly ward round in the Chinese Medicine Department.

However, Du Heng was stubborn. He only accepted the suggestion to limit registrations but kept his registration fee at 10 yuan, the same level as a Deputy Chief Physician in the hospital.

But even this measure of limiting registrations was more or less ineffective.

Du Heng’s ward round in the Chinese Medicine Department was, to a large extent, to satisfy those patients who couldn’t get a registration slot. He specifically chose Fridays, dedicating the entire day to seeing these patients—who were exploiting a loophole by getting admitted to the hospital—in their hospital rooms.

This was quite a troublesome matter. At the time, Gao Qin had curiously asked Du Heng why he was doing something so needlessly convoluted.

Du Heng had merely chuckled and didn’t offer a detailed explanation.

Later, a colleague from the outpatient service office secretly explained the situation.

Du Heng went through this trouble mainly out of consideration for the income of the doctors in the Chinese Medicine Department.

If Du Heng held more outpatient service sessions, it would inevitably reduce the time available for other doctors to hold theirs, and it would also affect the other outpatient doctors’ pathogen.

And their hospital’s Chinese Medicine Department, unlike other Departments, did not derive its main income from the hospitalization department. The main income of the Chinese Medicine Department at the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital came from outpatient patients; income from the hospitalization department was negligible.

So, if the pathogen decreased, those doctors in the Chinese Medicine Department who hadn’t joined the two project teams would essentially only earn a basic monthly salary of two to three thousand yuan.

With such a salary in today’s society, it would be difficult to even afford food and lodging, let alone do anything else.

Thus, Du Heng came up with this lousy idea.

Patients would be hospitalized on Thursday. After the check-up on Friday, those who needed to stay would remain hospitalized, while the others would simply take their medicine and leave.

In this way, the patients would be registered under other doctors’ names. This would not only increase the doctors’ income but also provide them with ample pathogen to train on, rapidly improving their diagnostic and treatment skills.

As for the patients, they only had to spend a little more than a day’s time and pay a 30 yuan bed fee, a 20 yuan nursing fee, and a 10 yuan consultation fee for that day. There were no other charges.

For an expense of less than one hundred yuan, the patients felt it was like staying overnight in a guesthouse; they found it completely acceptable. Meanwhile, the doctors and nurses in the Department could get practice and also increase their income.

However, this approach had a drawback: it increased the workload of the administrative staff in the hospitalization department—in fact, it doubled their work—which made them very unhappy.

But Du Heng wouldn’t be able to exploit this "BUG" or loophole for much longer.

As Du Heng’s fame grew and the hospital’s reputation improved, the number of inpatients in the Chinese Medicine Department gradually increased.

Once regular inpatients occupied more than half of the available beds, this practice of exploiting the "BUG" would, to avoid affecting normally admitted patients, only be a flash in the pan before completely disappearing from the operations of the Chinese Medicine Department at the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

As soon as Gao Qin finished speaking, the child’s grandmother’s attitude underwent a complete 180-degree turn.

Her previously scrutinizing gaze immediately softened, and her formerly stern, forbidding old face instantly broke into a wide smile. "So, you’re the Dean! To be a Dean at such a young age, your skills must certainly be remarkable."