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Posts: 55

Governor

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Q: Is saline solution the cure all for chinese doctors ? Are some chinese doctors corrupt ?

Last Thursday I went to government hospital 木渎人民医院 after work because of an irritating button on my back, the doctor had a look at it and said it was not ripe yet, but I needed to take on intravenous saline solution for three days, then come back to him for a small operation to remove the button ! .....by the way each infusion session cost RMB 198, and not clear as to how much the 'small operation' will cost ! I was highly sceptic by then and did not follow his prescription ! I went back to the same hospital on Saturday morning and went to consult a dermatologue who gave me vitamin B and some pills to coax the inflammation.....him I deemed a 'normal' doctor with ethics.

11 years 18 weeks ago in  Health & Safety - Suzhou

 
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Posts: 1968

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Dear AlainB, there are two questions here and one is the validity of a saline-based IV and the second concerns the possible corruption of Chinese MD"s.  I cannot speak to the second part of the question as I have not experienced that at all -- I have experienced some doctors who are decidedly far-less qualified than others, I hate to say (including the one that poured pure alcohol into an open wound on the lower calf of my right left thus causing me a second-degree infection) and others who have responded with excellent care.

 

Saline-based treatment was first introduced during the War and for many Westerners it conveys images of nurses in starched caps, etc., etc.  It is highly prevalent however in Chinese medicine.

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
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The IV can rehydrate you and deliver medicine Quickly

however like everything else is recycled so as the IV lines and needles

and as you know once plastic has absorbed something it keeps it forever no matter  

how much you try to sterilize it.

I guess what does not kill you will make you stronger or a carriercrying  

 

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1989

Peasant

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About the corruption with doctors... I remembered reading an article a while back on this site about this: http://www.echinacities.com/china-media/violent-doctor-patient-cases-what-s-wrong-with-china-s.html

 

Not to belittle the point that what they're doing is wrong, but I totally agree that this is an institutional problem. They make very little money comparatively, so they find other ways to supplement. I tend to prescribe to the school of thought that peoples actions can be governed by "incentive" and "restriction" mechanisms at an institutional level. As such, one can only hope that doctor pay is increased and that a zero-tolerance policy is implemented against "hong bao-ing".

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 416

Shifu

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plenty of doctors in china will give you medicine you dont need in order to reach their monthly target, lets face it not many people go to the hospital because hospitals bills are too high for the average chinese person. ive been to a hospital in guilin several times with some friends, and you wont find many people inside

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
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this year I had an experience (in comment to stan118), where I am diagnosed (correctly, as I had already consulted Dr. Google and another doctor who agreed) The doctor (again in accordance with Dr. Google) said there was nothing really to do but wait, then he told about how things would typically heal etc, then he asked me "would you like some Chinese medicine" to which I responded if he had not just 2 mins earlier told me that there was nothing he could do or give me to speed up recovery to which he responded "yes, but sometimes people like to have some medicine anyway" 

I would not call this corrupt, the doctor seemed to be very well educated, the department in the hospital equipped with all the gadgets from European manufacturers of medical hardware. The offer for some Chinese medicine, I put down to culture and the fact that Chinese medicine and the Chinese diet is very integrated.  

If you go see a Traditional Chinese Doctor and is diagnosed using pulse reading and sticking out your tongue, there is in 100% of the cases going to be something wrong with you, requiring you to go to the pharmacy to get bags of stuff to boil. This I would not call corruption either, but possibly fraud. 

In the general picture there any many differences in how the Chinese try to cure maladies when compared to western countries. Some are direct opposites. E.g. Chinese would cure problems with motor skills (e.g. result of a stroke or nerve damage) by having the patient rest. In the west, the patient must start using the affected body parts as soon as possible. As I have not medical training I cannot say what approach is the best, but if you dig into history, lots of the practices used in Chinese modern hospitals are the same as western hospitals used many decades ago.  This is where the Chinese will tout '4000 years of development' for the Chinese health system, and I would say it is outdated. 

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
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I wish I had that Saline stuff. I hear it takes you from hungover to track start in one flush. 

Hugh.G.Rection:

I don't know about Saline, but I can absolutely confirm from personal experience that 100% Oxygen does! 

11 years 18 weeks ago
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Nessquick:

Its kind of amphetamine i guess, coz is not really cure you, just boost your energy and enhance mood level :-) 

11 years 18 weeks ago
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nevermind:

I've heard there's an issue in China with doctors coming to work hungover and flushing their bodies with it to start work.

11 years 18 weeks ago
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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
Posts: 55

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My Chinese friends seem to take the fact that the doctor was trying to over-subscribe me medicine or proposing a 'small operation' where it might not be necessary as perfectly normal, they are all trying to explain to me that the doctor depends on commission from sale of medicine as well as hospital bonus to inflate his salary.   To me this mercantile philosophy is wrong, we see it more often than not, and yes I am not comfortable with it.  

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
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Doctors in China, along with most other professions, get paid very little.  So they supplement their income with bribes from patients for "special care", bribes from pharmaceutical companies to promote their medicines, bonuses (bribes) from their hospital to hit certain medical sales goals and additional commissions for performing surgeries that are not needed.

 

A great deal of the doctors are vastly overworked and develop a complete disdain for the people they are 'helping'.  Unless you are very lucky, or have a personal relationship with a doctor, the chances of receiving quality medical care that isn't punctuated with 'care' that isn't needed in China is slim.

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11 years 18 weeks ago
 
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5 years 31 weeks ago
 
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