Medical care in China has come a long way, and in Nanjing you can find access to most equipment, procedures and medicines you’d find in the West. However, the simple fact that Chinese hospitals have to run on small and subsidized budgets means that medical care is going to automatically be different. For instance, don’t expect any privacy during your doctors visit or hospital stay, unless you have paid for VIP services. This means the time you have to discuss personal problems with your doctor may be in the same room as 30 other people, all sitting next to you. And expect your doctors visit to be continually interrupted by other patients who also hate waiting and have learned to survive in an overcrowded country by cutting in lines and barging in.

Also, be on the lookout for hospitals that want to overdiagnose, overtreat, and overprescribe paying customers. For example, don’t be surprised if instead of prescribing a simple antibiotic for a bladder infection, your doctor demands you be hospitalized for several days. Or instead of giving a child with a fever a simple fever reducer, the doctor prescribes an I.V. to get fluids in the child, even though a bottle would do the same thing. (One classic hospital scene in China is dozens of patients sitting in one room, all with I.V. bags dripping into their arms, heads or feet for various health maladies.)

On a more serious note, be on the lookout for needle sharing. Always request to see the nurse open and fill a clean syringe before it is used on you. Because Chinese hospitals sometimes don’t have access to medicines in the volume they need, they fill syringes and use small doses on different people with the same needle. As one western mother I interviewed said, “They just entered the room, and put a needle in her [daughter’s] arm, and injected a little bit of medicine, and with a half-full syringe left the room.” If you have received care in China, and have seen the same thing or something similar, you may have been a victim of needle sharing. Don’t worry, you’ll probably survive.

Those things being said, your experience at a Chinese hospital can be effective and efficient. You will find most doctors and nurses very helpful and eager to help foreign patients. You may also find doctors who have studied western medicine and understand your perspective of what you think your care should be like. These doctors usually prescribe treatment very similar to what you’re used to and try their best to be helpful.

Remember that Chinese hospitals have a different process for visits. There are no personal rooms, no waiting rooms, and not really any receptionist. There is just a main entrance desk where all your fees are paid before any procedures are done, and then a myriad of different rooms for each different procedure or specialist. So, don’t be surprised if your “quick visit to the doctor” turns into an all day race between floors, visiting various different people and paying for various different tests. For instance, if you take your young child into the hospital with Roseola, expect your visit to go like this:

1. Enter the hospital; pay a small fee to see a low level doctor. Doctor checks temperature, looks in the mouth of child and decides the case is too complicated for him to handle, so he recommends you see the specialist on hand.

2. You pay another fee to see the specialist. The specialist looks at your child, decides it’s a typical childhood illness, but still wants to run some tests. He requires the child to take a blood test.

3. You pay the blood test fee. Then you stand in line at a window, where you put your child’s arm through a hole, and they prick her finger to fill a small vial with blood to check her white blood cell count. Remember, topical disinfectant may be a “luxury.”

4. You wait for the results, then take them back to the specialist who decides your child is genuinely sick, and then he prescribes various medicines for your child. (Here is where you need to be on the look out for a doctor who insists your child be hospitalized or receive other unnecessary treatments.)

5. You go back to the same payment desk, pay for your medicines and take the receipt to the pharmacy (usually located in the hospital) to collect your medicine.

So that’s the basic process: lines, crowds and bills before any treatments. Just remember to be a patient patient, and not to be too suspicious of being taken advantage of. And like all things in China, unless you have the language skills yourself, all things will go a lot smoother if you bring an interpreter.

If you visit a western clinic, expect the same care and process as if you were to visit a Western hospital. The western clinics in China offer a variety of services, including dental. Just expect to pay the same price you would pay as if you were in the United States, not Canada.

Below is a list of recommended Chinese and Western medical services in Nanjing.

Western Clinics:

Nanjing International SOS Clinic
319 Zhongshan Rd., East, 1st Floor of Hilton Hotel

Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 12 noon
Tel: 82 (25) 8480 2842, Fax: 82 (25) 8480 2843
Email: nanjing.clinic@internationalsos.com
Website: http://www.internationalsos.com/en/ourresources_clinics_china_3135.htm

GlobalDoctor Ltd, Nanjing Branch
Zuolinfengdu Garden, No.6 Mochou Park East Road,Jianye District.

Primary healthcare from Monday to Friday (08:30 to 18:30)
24–Hour Hotline: 86(25) 8651 9991, 13805174397, 13851403029 (For emergency)
Appointment No: 86 (25) 8651 9991, Fax: 86 (25) 8657 9998
Email: Nanjing@globaldoctor.com.au
Website: http://www.globaldoctor.com.au/china.aspx?CurID=nanjing&PurID=Locations

Chinese Hospitals:

Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University
Address: 321 Zhongshan Road, Gulou (Drum Tower) District, Nanjing, Jiangsu
Phone: 86 (25) 8310 5860, Fax: 86 (25) 8331 7016
Website: http://www.drumtowerhospital.com

The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University
Address: 121 Jiangjiayuan, Xiaguan District, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210011
Tel: 86 (25) 5880 2883, Fax: 86 (25) 5850 9994

There are many web sites that list contact information for many hospitals in Nanjing. Two of them are here:
http://nanjing.jiangsu.net/health/hospital/
http://www.synotrip.com/nanjing/tips/hospitals%20in%20nanjing-94.shtml

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