Expat, Heal Thyself: A Guide to the Chinese Hospital

Expat, Heal Thyself: A Guide to the Chinese Hospital
Oct 16, 2010 By Alia Scanlon , eChinacities.com

With any luck, you will survive your stay in China without having to go to the hospital.  Stay long enough, however, and a trip to the doctor is inevitable.  Because not all of us have the financial wherewithal or access to those nice, clean, bilingual expat hospitals, here is a brief guide to your trip to your friendly local Chinese hospital!  Ready?  Here we go.

The mysterious street meat you thought was a good idea the other night is exacting its revenge on your intestines, and after the third straight day of jettisoning your insides into the toilet, it’s time for some help.  You, being clever and well-informed, know to go to the biggest hospital you can find and that the hospital (yes, the entire thing) will be closed from noon to two p.m.   You arrive early and armed with either a translator or a piece of paper with all the things that are wrong with you written down because nobody at all is going to speak English there.  You are mildly appalled at how dark, crowded, and dirty the place is, but you’re a scrappy adventurer and brace yourself for the experience.   

Your first challenge is to register at the desk or window just inside the entrance.  Look for signage that says “guahao” (挂号).  Like anywhere else in China, there are no real queues, and the elderly, people in uniform, and those with small children expect to go first, so you get knocked out of the way a few times before you get to the window.  They give you a card to fill out with your name (if you can, use a Chinese one) and your age, gender, phone number, and address.  They also want to know which department you need to see, and this is where you break out your handy written description of your ailment.  They take your info and your registration fee (a few RMB) and give you a little booklet, a receipt, and a card. 

The second challenge is finding the correct department and the correct doctor.  The hospital is an Escher-inspired labyrinth and people are less than helpful about directions.  Fortunately, a lot of the signage is in something approximating English, and you can always show somebody your receipt which states the department.  You join the crowd (again, not a queue) around the doctor’s cubicle and maneuver your way to the front.

The third challenge is the examination itself, or, more specifically, making the surly, overworked doctor understand what the problem is.  Whip out your written description, make exuberant gestures and draw pictures.  Do a little dance.  Whatever it takes.  The doctor take notes in your little booklet, swipes your card, and orders up some tests that are probably unnecessary but keep the hospital in business.  Now you have to find the payment window (it probably says “shou fei,” or收费) where they swipe your card and you receive another receipt after paying the lab fee.  Now you’re off to find the lab, give them their samples, and wait for the results.  With luck, the tests your doctor ordered will be ready within an hour or so.  So you wait and take the opportunity to sit back and observe the compelling mayhem that is the Chinese hospital.

After you pick up your results, you return to the doctor, hoping that he or she won’t try to hospitalize you.  Sometimes they want to hook you up to an IV for a day or two to milk you for cash, and you aren’t prepared to share a room with lots of ill strangers their families and pony up more cash than you want to spend.  Luckily, this time the doctor simply writes a prescription in your booklet, swipes your card, writes in your booklet some more, and sends you to the payment desk again, where you pay, get a receipt, have your card swiped, ad infitium.  Now you can go to the pharmacy, which is divided into Chinese and Western medicine counters.  You know that it is generally unadvisable to take the two kinds of medicines together because of poorly understood drug interactions, but doctors here love to over-prescribe.  You ignore the Chinese medicine unless you know exactly what it is and go for whatever Western medicine they give you.  Again, over-prescription is a huge problem, so you receive three different types of antibiotics and some mysterious other pills that you will go home and research before taking, because, frankly, the internet is about as good a doctor as the one you just saw.
And now dear expat, go ahead and congratulate yourself on your weird new adventure, go home, and heal thyself.
 

Related links
Take a Number: How to Handle a Chinese Hospital
You’re Having Him Where? Giving Birth in Kunming
Get Covered: A Brief Guide to Expat Health Insurance in China

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Keywords: expat hospital guide China guide to Chinese hospital Chinese hospital

2 Comments

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Guest708078

My Father was having hernia. So i took him to City hospital. They asked us to get admitted and we will get a operation date as soon as possible. They will do the medical checkups and test during our stay in the hospital. They did all stupid unnecessary medical tests for him in 2 days and next 2 days we will just in the hospital like no one i was keep asking everyone what's next we are finished with tests. After 4 days they told us tomorrow they will do surgery it was 4 p.m . I went back to prepare all the stuff in case we need anything in the hospital. At 8 pm doctor called me and told me we cant operate your father tomorrow. We need to do another test i was like mad on them i just went back to hospital and argued with him why they did nothing for the last 2 days and gave me a date then at once at night changed their decision. They wanted to do Skin pathlogy test i never heard that someone needed that test. By luck the main surgeon was there and he said okay we will operate him tomorrow. now here is when they make good cash out of you. they gave my father spinal anesthesia and arranged a english speaking nurse for him . while operation they were keep pursuading my father to use all the expensive goods and use cosmetic thread. he said okay. after the surgery hardly some doctor came to ask how is he doing. they were just keep telling us he is absolutely good. his wound is very good. hardly a nurse and a medical dresser gives us a visit. even by chance is some surgeon is on round he is not even try to look on the wound condition. so next 10 days they were keep on changing his dressings. we were very much curious why it took so long for a wound to heal up.11th day doctors were not on their duty so a senior nurse was there to do dressing. she was cleaning wound while she got to know inside all skin is dead and have fats pieces on the wound. She didnt used any scissors and the wound opened itself while she was cleaning it. that was when we got to know how careless were are doctors with him. Nurse was even saying what the doctors were doing. they even dont try to check him. I captured all the wound pictures in my camera. next day she called the surgeon he came and instead of accepting his mistake he told us it happens. Now my father wound is still open it is the 14th day. no doctor shows up i asked them they are on vacations nurse is doing dressings for my father. they told me on 8th oct they will check the wound again like they are giving us a favor. they really dont know their duty. now they are using expensive stuff like imported absorbers and imported wound healers. And still asking me to pay the bills for their mistake. nurse told me he is the best surgeon in our department. i was curious if he is the best what about the others. So much worried my father is all in pain from 24th of sep till now. Bed rest for all these days. I hope they become a bit serious and dont give my father any favor just do their duties good. God Bless everyone.

Oct 06, 2013 21:42 Report Abuse

dandmcd

This is the best answer. Having a local doctor as your friend will get you VIP treatment from start to finish. If you go to a public hospital and sit around waiting for hours, you'll notice many people who walk in, get put in the front of the line, and walk out in a matter of a couple minutes. They aren't in an emergency situation, they just know the right people to get faster care. Luckily I know many doctors, so if I have any problem, they will help me, or find me an English speaking doctor to take me around for all the tests. I haven't had a problem going to the hospital ever since.

Oct 05, 2013 09:02 Report Abuse