Volunteers help take an emergency patient for checks at Xiangyang No 1 People's Hospital in Hubei province. Medical students from a local vocational college established a volunteer team of 88 members. Wearing red caps, they come to the hospital to offer help during weekends and holidays. [Photo by Gong Bo / For China Daily]

Wang Feng, 31, who took his 5-month-old daughter to the hospital on April 17, said such volunteer services are soothing. He said they are especially comforting for those who arrive in Beijing from afar for the first time and are exhausted by traveling and finding a place to stay.

"Doctors and nurses are too busy to always answer these questions with patience. Volunteers, who only work here for a short period of time, can make it up with their nice attitude," he said, adding that volunteers work well as a buffer between hospital and patients.

Beijing Children's Hospital is not the only one in the city where volunteers share the work of medical professionals.

The Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals found in a survey that more than 10 hospitals in the city had their own programs for volunteers. Authorities are working on a program to attract more such volunteers, said Wei Jiang, deputy Party secretary of the administration.

Under "Guardian Angels", a program introduced by the administration in early April, 21 hospitals posted on the Beijing Volunteer Federation website asking for 1,573 volunteers for 97 positions. The positions included guides, psychological consultants, music therapists and hospice caregivers.

Beijing Children's Hospital also appealed for 60 more volunteer guides, as well as 30 volunteers to visit and entertain leukemia patients and 20 others to accompany patients during dialysis sessions.

"Almost 500 people have signed up for the posts. The public has responded very positively," said Wei, who added that volunteers help bridge hospitals and patients and enhance mutual trust by communicating with medical workers, the hospital administration and patients.

Limited role

But Wang, the father of the 5-month-old, said the voluntary service plays a limited role in relieving tension between hospitals and patients.