(Yicai Global) Feb. 9 -- Some 30 hospitals in Beijing have installed facial recognition systems to nab scalpers who try to sell appointment tickets to patients looking to skip long lines in the capital's medical institutions.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning thought up the scheme, which it hopes will help police track down culprits, local news agency Beijing News reported. Peking University Third Hospital and Beijing Tian Tan Hospital are among those taking part in the program.

"The system mainly targets scalpers lingering around hospitals," commission director Lei Haichao said at a recent work meeting. "Once they set foot in hospitals, the system will detect their faces and prompt security staff or the police to intervene."

China's most trusted hospitals tend to be in bigger cities. Patients would rather make long journeys to a major infirmary than stay local so it is tough to get appointments, especially with well-known doctors. As a result, scalpers hoard tickets and sell them on at inflated prices. Local authorities have taken action to crack down on the practice but have been unable to put an end to it.

The city will set up a blacklist of resellers this year and share it with police, hospital registration platforms and other medical institutions, he added, saying that the high cost of the technology makes deploying it citywide difficult.