My eyes have been freaking out on me for a couple of months so one of the first things my mom did was to take me to the hospital here in Shanghai. The hospital was more crowded than a Forever 21 store on Black Friday. And it was a week day. My mom and I got there at 8:30 a.m. and all the registration numbers were gone. You see, in order to see a doctor in China, you have to line up for a gua hao, a registration number. After the quota of the day is exhausted, they turn away people. Some patients start lining up at 4 a.m. in order to secure a gua hao. You also get to request specific doctors. The doctors' names and specialties are listed on a giant board and they are ranked as "top level experts" and "experts". I just randomly picked the ones that had nice smiles and beautiful names.
Based on my limited experience here in Shanghai and in DC when I was in the hospital because of a snakebite, I've come up with a little list comparing the two.
Side by side: American and Chinese hospitals
:: The Chinese hospital had self-help machines where you can check the prices of all the medicines beforehand so you know what to expect. In America, I just received 4 or 5 bills that charged me random, exorbitant amounts.
:: In US, I rolled my eyes when I had to wait 45 minutes for a doctor. Here, we finally got to see a doctor only because we had connections.
:: Some of the Shanghai nurses were ferocious, whereas my DC nurse sneaked me extra pudding, wheeled me around to show off my ballooned leg, and pulled up her shirt randomly to show me all her stretch marks.
:: The DC triage nurse told me that I had sprained my ankle when I was really bitten by a copperhead; my Chinese doctor took two minutes to determine what was wrong with my eye. The Chinese doctors apparently see up to a thousand patients a day.
:: My anti-venom shots cost apparently 20,000 USD per shot (I had three). Subsequent visits to the doctors, only to be reprimanded for not taking my meds, cost at least $250 USD each time. In Shanghai, I was charged 15 RMB (2 USD) to see the doctor and an extra $120 RMB for the medicine (roughly 20 USD).
:: But lucky for my parents, insurance covered most of my DC bills (which were crazy, especially with all the dessert I ordered). I'm not exactly sure how, or if, insurance works in China.
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