Originally posted by netlan at 13-1-2011 08:50
My mother was originally from Guangzhou. She told me that when she was young, she got hurt and went to the hospital for emergencies. The hospital staff would pressure her to present some cash, jeweler ...
This bleak picture is precisely the reason why a few years back I started a JV with the Ministry of Health to offer Medical Assistance services in China. (I gave up a few years back - as the challenges AND the $$ resources required is just too overwhelming; just in case anybody is wondering if I have an agenda posting this up!!)
Chinese hospitals are run more like businesses rather than just pure medical service institutions - and as such, in the majority of cases, they WILL insist on prepayments before admittance. There are of course isolated cases when they will admit patients without such - but this is more to do with their "business judgement" than anything else; if a patient appears/accompanied by someone who appears to have the wherewithal to pay for treatment then of course they'll welcome him!
But the "ordinary" patient is out of luck unless he does have CASH to prepay; medical insurance cards or even some credit cards will NOT suffice as they just do NOT recognize them.
The AVERAGE occupancy rate of Chinese hospitals is around 130% - yes, you read that correct - they do have patients in corridors and linen closets - and as such, hospital administrators do have the luxury of being able to treat patients like crap. Very unfortunate - but that IS the situation in such a vast country where resources ARE stretched. A country with over 700,000 hospitals, over two and a half million doctors - but populated with 1.3 billion people! Figures in China are always staggering!
SEAJ