Originally Posted by
Cathay Dragon 666
This is both true and false statement at the same time. True - the "general level" of competence is lower is correct. Many Chinese "doctors" don't actually have a doctoral. In fact, if you travel outside of "First-Tier" cities, chances are your doctors are trained at local community colleges. This is why even for the local Chinese, if they have a serious illness (or a moderate one), they will travel to First Tier cities to seek medical treatment.
False - I found many doctors in Shanghai are much more competent and knowledgeable vs. my precious doctors in the US that I dumped my US doctors and stick with the ones in Shanghai. China made it easy to find them: they are usually at International Hospitals. These hospitals also post their bio and medical expertise on the APPs, so you know exactly where they were trained, how many years of experiences, expertise, etc. Even the top doctors at Chinese hospitals, that it's virtually impossible to get an appointment with them, will attend to patients at International Hospitals (usually 2-4 days a month) and appointments are relatively easier (at a very high cost, but your insurance covers it so no cost to you).
My work have me involved in the Sixth People's Hospital in Shanghai for a while, and they developed some of the world's top techniques in treatment on wrists and finger joints. Many doctors from US and EU flew into Shanghai to learn from them. My sleep apnea doctor back in the States never can tune my CPAP correctly to my specific needs, and it took one visit with a Sleep Apnea doctor in Shanghai to fix the issue and I'm a completely different person (sleep-wise) afterwards. My cardiologist in US refuse to do more tests on me claiming I'm a-ok, but a visit to a cardiologist in Shanghai has shown that my heart blood vessels are blocked 70% and needed treatment. (If you're curious who are my doctors: UPenn and Johns Hopkin, the two top medical institutions in the States).
This is why I would recommend, if you're in China, and you gotten sick, go to the top International Hospitals in your region. Even if they don't have it themselves, they will get the top doctors from Government Hospitals to come treat you (if necessary). Foreign Direct-Payment Insurance is cash-cow for them.
Much agreed on this post. I find that the level of care both for my family (including children) at the international hospitals is very high. We go to United Family (both the main hospital in Changning and the clinic in Huacao) and at both places we can see top doctors (who like you said often work most days at the public hospitals) and the quality of care and the whole experience is almost like concierge medicine. Making appointments and viewing the doctor's experience and credentials on the wechat mini-program is super easy. Never have to wait for more than 5 minutes for the doctor. Free parking, etc etc., overall a very seamless process. And the doctor's are so experienced, probably because they spend most of their time at the top public hospitals in Shanghai where they may see 50 or more patients in a day, so they are usually very quick and accurate in diagnosing the problem. If you need imaging or a blood test or anything it happens right away in the same building, no need to make a separate appointment at an imaging center like in the U.S. where it could be more than a week before you can get an appointment, then see the doctor again, etc. If you have employer-paid international health insurance you pay nothing out of pocket, including for medications, so overall it's really a much better experience of medical care compared to the US.