Chinese private hospitals are arguable worst than public hospitals as they rely on extorting as much money out of patients as possible to stay in business. I don't have international health insurance so I have tried both Chinese private hospitals (thinking they might be better) and just regular ones. I've learned that I'm never going to a private Chinese hospital again because they tell you you need all these crazy treatments and hundreds, if not, thousands kuai worth of medicine when in fact you might just have a mild flu which can be dealt with using over-the-counter meds.

So far, my experience at regular Chinese hospitals has been more positive despite the questionable sanitary conditions in the waiting halls. Every time I need a check up I go to the local hospital which costs 7 kuai for a number. The halls smell of toilet but the doctors have always done an okay job and I never felt like they were scamming me by telling me I have something more serious than I actually have. 

Chinese private women's health/gynaecology hospitals are the worst and I warn all women on this forum to never ever go to any of the private women's hospitals like Mary's, Alice Hospital etc. When you innocently go in for a regular check-up, they all tell you you have some potentially dangerous condition by showing you a pic of a rotting vagina (sorry for the disgusting imagery) and make you take bizarre treatments that cost several thousand kuai. These treatments are unnecessary and potentially dangerous. I've spoken to several expat female friends in Beijing who have all gone through the same thing.

I went to a big one in SZ, not sure if it govt. or not, but I think it was.  Treated me great. First class.  Maybe my school has guanxi,,, or maybe cuz I'm a white dude,,, but whatever,  first-class treatment.  

truth is, I got the feeling they were truly caring & compassionate people.  a real nice comfort to me when I was in pretty darn desperate need of.

Except perhaps in first tier cities, the lack of genuine medical care is astounding.

I find it increasingly frustrating that Chinese people refuse to understand what real medicine is (that it is scientific and credible, and has results). The ubiquitous use of IV glucose drips (this seems to be prescribed for every non-condition imaginable) does literally nothing except siphon the patient's money. Meanwhile hospitals charge ludicrous prices just for a room, while making continuous excuses not to do any medical procedures (e.g. "the diagnostic machines are broken - you will have to wait a few more weeks - money please").

I have been to a dentist (I broke one of my back teeth that previously had a filling in it), and this resulted in the most intense pain I've ever experienced - the dentist digging around in the inside of my tooth with a long surgical blade. No anaesthetic. Raw, undiluted pain, very close to my brain. Right after the pain relented, my Chinese friend said "are you ok?" and held my hand, and I nearly started crying. The physical shock of the experience left my body shaking for an hour afterwards.

My girlfriend's grandmother had cancer. She stayed in hospital for two months, with her relatives paying thousands of RMB per week just for the room. No medical treatment. During her stay there another patient climbed out the window and fell to his death (because his family didn't have enough money). Finally, the hospital ran a CT or some other scan, and said "You've got cancer. You have to leave." - This is because they don't want patients dying in their hospital. So she died of cancer, at home, about 2 months later.

My girlfriend says that whenever she has a serious cold, doctors will ask to see her bottom, and put a needle in it, after some squeezing. What. The. F*ck.

None of my family have had any serious illnesses so I have no real complaints. We have of course given our daughter all her innoculations, and there seem to be a lot more in China, we had one every month (including the flu jabs) up until last month when she was 30 months, in the UK they're all over by about 1 year (I think). However it was done efficiently even if they were as busy as a busy thing. 

My only complaint really is aesthetic, why is it all the 'whites' the doctors and nurses wear appear to be a dull grey? They look really dirty, haven't they heard of bleach and starch?

I think for several reasons people stay in the hospitals more than needed. Samsara's story above being one of them, simply nothing goes on to get people out of the hospital. Generally the hospitals want to keep the patients there as long as possible AND the relatives DO NOT want someone sick at home. You don't want your relative with lung cancer at home couching cancer germs all over the place. 

People hire complete strangers who do not even know basic CPR to take care of their relatives while they are in hospital. The hospitals provide nothing. These caretakers are there 24/7 at a measly pay, pretty much just doing basic stuff such as sponge baths. 

My wife's grandmother had a stroke last year. She was admitted to a government hospital in a VIP department. The looks of it far outshines anything I have seen anywhere else in the world (even US medical drama on TV) Top notch facilities. Taking the lift one floor down to the "normal" part of the hospital, paint falling of walls etc. 

In this VIP section of the hospital everything else was exactly like the normal hospital. Food needed to be brought by family, no treatment going on, the doctor ordered rest, whereas some physiotherapy and general moving around would have been my guess for what was needed as the woman had a slight paralysis in one side, but was otherwise strong.

The reason why people don't mind paying large amounts of money for hospitalizations is that they don't want the sick at home. Science hasn't caught on in the hospital industry yet because people believe that something 5000 years old is better than something that has been developed in the modern world (if China had a 5000 year history of designer bags, I an sure Gucci and LV would have a hard time selling anything)

Some of the doctors and nurses appear to be trained pretty well. Some appear to have zero training and may just have walking in from the street wearing white gowns.

And of course, a thing that is really problematic is that hospitals have no inter-department communication. As a patient/relative you are expected to tell one doctor what the previous doctor said. 

I don,t like to talk about this topic but it,s really scary. I was in a hospital a couple of months before, my leg was burned with oil. When i arrived in the hospital, the room where they treated me the burn was full of blood and hair from other patients, really dirty. When they were about to clean my leg I was afraid that the tools werent clean so I decided to leave the hospital and do it by myself

  My experience is wanting to tell people to get the f**k out of the room while i'm talking about my piles. Patient-doctor confidentiality? I f*****g wish! How hard is it to set in place a system that respects the privacy of a man's anus!? C'mon!

I had a kidney stone pop down while I was in China and went to a military hospital that I did not see another single patient there? The food was good. I had three nurses to attend me day and night. The doctors spoke English. It was the best hospital experience I have ever had. My wife is Chinese and has three sisters that all have had hysterectomies? One child one hysterectomy? My wife had some gynecological problems and they burned some cysts from her vagina and turned her into a basket case. She is so scared of having to have this procedure done again that it turned her off completely from sex?It seem Chinese doctors will do anything to discourage sex or having children.

drink more water and get some rest 500 rmb please