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Q: my wife and I took our 2 year old son to the hospital.
last week my son got pretty sick very bad cough high fever, my wife and I took our boy to the hospital in Meilin(Shenzhen).
he got checked out by the doctor and she told us he needs a blood test and chest x ray,so we go and pay for that get the blood test done then get the x ray done then go back and see the doctor.
then she tells us he needs another blood test this is to test for some virus,so we go and pay for that get the blood test done then go back and see the doctor.
then she tells us he needs a drip and would we like to pay 6000rmb to stay in the hospital,we said no to staying in the hospital.anyway the doctor tells us he will need to come back on saturday for his 2nd lot of drips.
we came back on saturday only to be told he will have to have drips for the rest of the week so thats from sunday the 5th to friday the 10th of july.
I told my wife to tell the doctor if he is getting better why does he need to have so many drips,on sunday his fever had gone and he was starting to get better.
the doctor then changed her mind and said monday would be the last day for drips.
my thought on all this they just wanted to get money from me,they did not want to get him better quickly,the hospital was dirty,while I was there so many people coughing and not putting there hand over the mouth.I had 2 woman cough all over me.its a wonder Iam not sick.I saw the guard boy spit on the floor,the hospital did not smell clean.
my boy got very stressed out by having drips and before we even entered to hospital he knew what was going on and started crying.
love read your stories about taking your kids to a Chinese hospital.
Typical hospital scam trying to suck you dry. I never take my kids to the hospital for a cold or flu. The hospital can do nothing more than what attentive parents do at home. Only if the fever lasts more than a couple of days, will I even consider taking them to a "doctor".
Its common. Hospitals are pure Evil here. As is such in a culture where jobs that are traditional meant for people that want to help others are taken by immoral thieves. It certainly.didnt help that you went with them.
I am blessed. My wife and her family are very anti hospital and pro-western medicine. Very few hospital trips. a steady supply of tylonal cold and flu and orange juice and sleep.
Being pro active helps. We need to go more often now as the wifey is pregnant. But we are never the first people taking these tests or having these symptoms. So turn on the VPN and google the specific scenario and there will almost certainly be countless others who can give info. This tells us if we need to go at all, what medicine we should be prescribed if we do go and what tolerances and ranges we should be looking for for all these damn blood tests. it helps a great deal and saves a fortune and most importantly we control the hospital visit and leave happy.
Typical hospital scam trying to suck you dry. I never take my kids to the hospital for a cold or flu. The hospital can do nothing more than what attentive parents do at home. Only if the fever lasts more than a couple of days, will I even consider taking them to a "doctor".
But, surely your son's body is different to Chinese bodies, and therefore the doctors have no idea on what to do???
Remember, the drip is a basic saline/glucose mix, and has very little (or no) therapeutic value - ie, it's not 'medicine' - unless you're pretty dehydrated. And, even then, you can do the same thing yourself at home (for a LOT less than the 400+RMB they're going to charge you). For a relatively healthy person (including your sick son), lots of good food and water would do the same thing.
Even we Chinese don't trust in Chinese doctors. They only care about profit.
Shining_brow:
And yet, if you sneeze, it's "Are you going to the hospital to see the doctor?"
SpongeBob:
lol. yep, that's the same as have you eaten? just being nice, no one's going to really go and check up. But seriously, this is a hidden rule in China, unless you are really really ill, don't even bother to go and see a doctor. If they offer you drops, just say no, you prefer medicine. If they offer you the super expensive imported medicine, just say no, you want china made medicine. If they give you china made medicine, just say you prefer herbs. if they give you the scripts, never get it in the hospital, instead, go and get the medicine in a store, it saves up to 50%. Just, never trust doctors in China.
I hate all hospitals here, none and I mean NONE are good to go to, not one is perfect. I usually go to Bei-De hosptial in Futian, Shenzhen near LianHua Shan Hill Park, I've been to all these other hospitals and they are by far the best and even at night. I tried the Shenzhen Childrens hospital and god there were 72 kids before it was our turn and a father allowing his kid to pee on the floor likes its normal. So we left and never stopped going to Bei-De Hospital. OCT Nanshan hosptial can be good for basic stuff, they're number#2 on my Shenzhen list. If only I had time to go to HK every time, but we don't. Hope your kid is getting better. I agree they are trying to cheat you, Y6000? I've never been asked that for anything, even a MRI cost Y1000 only.
We experienced the IV scam enough to avoid it in the future. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my wife completely out of the hospital routine. It goes:
(1) County hospital. Lousy medicine, mostly ineffective. Heavy scam risk.
(2) Local city hospital: Not much better than above. Lower scam risk.
(3) Chengdu hospital, linked to some university: Since my wife is not a local and hasn't got the right hospital card, she might need to stay overnight in a hotel to see a doctor. Travel makes things more expensive, the medicine not so much. But it usually works better than above hospitals'.
I keep telling her go straight to Chengdu for serious things, but she is reluctant because of the time and cost. Last time my son had conjunctivitis, and the county hospital gave a weak but effective medicine. We still ended up going to Chengdu because of panic, for more effective medicine.
But yeah, if you fall for IV scams too easily, the doctors will take your bank account for a joyride while you sit there panicking. You need to be a suspicious negotiator even if you worry about your loved ones health in China. There are even scammers who will keep your child sick if they believe there is more money to get from you, so your empathy might actually end up harming your child. Beware!
Next time cross the border when you need medical assistance.
fada:
Absolutely, medical emergency, take to local hospital, find out if he's not going to die in 24 hours (not being calous), take him the f out of china.
at the time we had to take our son somewhere as he wasnt getting any better.My wife did not want to go to the childrens hospital.we have been there before and its not good.
anyway he is a lot better now,next time we will look at other options.
fada:
Good to hear he is doing fine now. medicine is pretty easy to get here without prescription, i always keep some weak broad spectrum anti biotics at hand for emergencies, mostly to avoid having to go tonthe hospital here
You're not supposed to put kids on the drip. It's bad for adults as it dulls your immune system against similar infections/illnesses, but for kids it can affect their development because the ones that aren't just saline are packed full of steroid like substances and antibiotics. A lot of Chinese people now know to try and stay away from the drip.
Plus there's no reason to put your kid on the drip. Would you do it back home? So why do it here? Because the money grabbing doctor says so? I've had the drip once, when I had food poisoning so bad I wanted to cry. But apart from that, I wouldn't have it myself, let alone let a kid have it.
Hotwater:
Fully agree! We all know drips in China are just for making money & off almost no medical use
yeah, THE DRIPS.. the second magical medicine after warm water. Really WTF... A we chat friend send me a picture of she taking one of those and I asked "Oh, what happened?" and her reply was... "toothache" 
Just like shining_brow said its just glucose water... and btw drinking more water mixed with glucose by mouth will have lasting effect then giving it in veins, because it goes through natural digestion.
well, I understand the urgency with your son, but anything medical related it's good to take second, third advice. As a individual from another developing country it's not uncommon for the medical professional to try to rip you off so they can pay back the student loans they took to be doctors... It's sad!! but it happens
My hospital experience, go to the hospital with CHinese colleagues (For the same thing) get charged 160 RMB (My chinese colleagues registered me, the scammers I mean the staff didn't see my face until I got treatment). GO there alone for the same thing, get charged 1400 RMB.
Be very careful about taking medical advice from people on a forum such as this.
One advice you can take though. Drips in China is a money making thing for the hospital. The doc who writes the prescription for the drip gets paid on the number of prescriptions he writes and the hospital as a whole makes money.
There is NEVER any medical reason to give a saline solution in a drip as long as the patient is capable of drinking a glass of water. Only severely dehydrated people who are incapable of drinking sufficient water would need this. It is very rarely there would be any active ingredients in the drip, such as antibiotics or hormones.
Taking a two year old to a Chinese hospital should be illegal. Look at what impact the environment has on the mind of a young kid. If he wasn't sick already he would feel miserable afterwards. Just get on the floor and get playing and make sure to drink plenty of water. If fever persists for more than 48 hours, seek medical help. I have no clue on how to seek medical help in China.
first of all they arnt doctors they have a 4 year bachlors degree in medicine not a doctoral degree the reason they do the blood test is they dont know wHats the matter the blood test will give them an idea the xray is to mske sure of bronchitas because the air is so bad u should take a chinese person with u so u dont get it in the booty the drip is anti biotechs veey bad un later years the anti biotechs will lose effect in the future if u get sick
If you're in a place with truly dodgy hospitals, it might be worth getting a copy of Where There Is No Doctor. It's a great book that's been published in many languages. I used it a lot when I lived in Nigeria. (Yes, China, I'm comparing you're medical care outside of 1st tier cities to Africa.)
It will explain how to properly use antibiotics and other medicines which are normally prescription. There's lots of info on first aid, rehydration and such. There's even detailed explanations on how to treat gunshot wounds and deliver a baby. Hopefully you won't need anything that extreme.
i would suggest getting a Chinese copy for your MILs, but what are the chances of them believing what's in it?
I said it before and I will say it again.
My two most HATED places in China to go to are:
1) Hospitals
2) Banks
Nothing good comes from it and someone always screws up or tries to cheat you.
What is with this stupid IV's anyway? You don't see them in the West unless someone just had surgery or is in critical condition. And they usually contain more than just sugar, salt and maybe some Penicillin.
