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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: What's the worst thing you've seen in a Chinese hospital?
I haven't seen many, but some Chinese hospitals remind me of horror movies sets...What terrible and disgusting things have you seen happening in there?
11 years 31 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
The first time I had ever been in a Chinese "hospital (which I think was more of a clinic)" was about 1 month after I arrived in China, and I was sick for about 10 days. With a rolling, high fever, cramps, chills and a massive headache, I was not in good condition. After about 5 days of this, I was so sick, I didn't care. Someone who was looking out for me took me to a hospital about 11pm one cold and rainy evening. I was miserable.
We walked into the place, and the paint was peeling off the wall, the floor hadn't been cleaned since Moses, and the guy who checked us in smoked the whole time. Finally, we walked down a looooooong hallway (lite by two bare bulbs). The closer we got to the end of the hall, the more pronounced the smell of urine as we approached the latrines. Finally we saw the doctor, who I think had been sleeping. He took my pulse, and then suggested an (surprise), I.V. By this time I'm thinking, "just let me die, but get me outta here!" No such luck. I was taken into a small room with about 30 other people. No heat (this was in March), and everybody was bundled up. I must have been in the room of migrant workers, because everyone looked like they were from "outta town." The only "Han" in the place were the doctor and nurses. In my mildly hallucinogenic state, I swear someone had brought their sheep in with them. I could hear them bleating from a giant bag propped in the corner. More people came in, some carrying suitcases and blankets. One toothless old man, with more wrinkles than China's got people, stared at me the whole time.
There was a bed in the middle of the room with one poor guy covered up, people surrounding him to see (presumably) if he was still alive. They were holding his hands and speaking in slow, chanting voices, which sounded suspiciously like a funeral dirge. Some guy was smoking. A lady was eating what looked like cloves of garlic. The whole room smelled like a locker room at the end of the season. The one window was broken, the one light bulb was going dim, and every once and a while the guy on the bed would give a raspy choke, deep in his throat. I sat in a strait-backed wooden chair along side my Tibetan sheepherders and Mongol steepe riders for almost two hours. I mostly dozed in and out. At one point, the guy in the bed was gone. To this day, I don't know if he passed on or not.
You have to understand. I was sick. Really, really sick. Every bug and virus had waited at my doorstep for over a month, and then, when they were all collected together, jumped inside me and screamed "Welcome to China, sucker!!"
Obviously, I lived to tell the tale. And yep, every word of it is true.
most disgusting thing i have seen are people smoking in the halls or in the waiting room.
My wife going through labor. When the time came for the birth, the doctor wouldn't let me come in and watch because it was a C section. I wanted to be there with her but in my heart of hearts I could have kissed him for that.
:
I've seen a c-section...
My mother- for some ungodly reason- wanted me to be present when her youngest child was born. I suppose it depends on your level of squeamishness, but I found it to be mildly interesting (insomuch as any surgical procedure is "scientifically interesting").
But, then, this was in an American hospital... Not sure if I would be as calm in a foreign facility.
I've heard of people actually smoking while having a full rectal examination!
Can you just picture the conversation.
Dr - Bend over I'm just going to insert this up your rectum
Patient - Can I have a fag?
Dr -
GuilinRaf:
In Guilin, the doc who performed my yearly examination for my Foreign Expert Certificate, chain smoked the whole time, and, less than 5 or 6 meters away was an oxygen tank....
I had a rat run across my feet in a clinic bathroom. When that happened, I didn't care if I was going to die, I wasn't going to spend a second longer in that place.
Visiting a Chinese friend who just gave birth to her son. She was stuck in a tiny room with 3 other new mothers, their new children and their visitors/caretakers. Didn't seem to bother her as much as it bothered me
iam a smoker and i would not dare smoke in a hosptil but everyone else seems to just scares the shi out of me
I only went into a hospital once to ask something. The nurse wore a white smock, but it was filthy. I doubt it was one days dirt. I was grossed out.
The worst thing I have seen is patients bribing the doctors with "hongbao" to be sure they get an acceptable level of service!
I once had to meet a doctor in his office. I informed him in advance that I was coming to see him, he said ok. When I went into the office he was talking to a female patient who was about to be discharged from hospital, and of course he was about to ask for a bribe (hongbao), but since I was in the office he didn't. The woman walked out of the office and left the hospital. After she left , he was so angry at me saying that I should always call him before coming, and actually I did call him but he forgot that. I was so happy that I saved the poor woman some money. HAHA.
The first time I had ever been in a Chinese "hospital (which I think was more of a clinic)" was about 1 month after I arrived in China, and I was sick for about 10 days. With a rolling, high fever, cramps, chills and a massive headache, I was not in good condition. After about 5 days of this, I was so sick, I didn't care. Someone who was looking out for me took me to a hospital about 11pm one cold and rainy evening. I was miserable.
We walked into the place, and the paint was peeling off the wall, the floor hadn't been cleaned since Moses, and the guy who checked us in smoked the whole time. Finally, we walked down a looooooong hallway (lite by two bare bulbs). The closer we got to the end of the hall, the more pronounced the smell of urine as we approached the latrines. Finally we saw the doctor, who I think had been sleeping. He took my pulse, and then suggested an (surprise), I.V. By this time I'm thinking, "just let me die, but get me outta here!" No such luck. I was taken into a small room with about 30 other people. No heat (this was in March), and everybody was bundled up. I must have been in the room of migrant workers, because everyone looked like they were from "outta town." The only "Han" in the place were the doctor and nurses. In my mildly hallucinogenic state, I swear someone had brought their sheep in with them. I could hear them bleating from a giant bag propped in the corner. More people came in, some carrying suitcases and blankets. One toothless old man, with more wrinkles than China's got people, stared at me the whole time.
There was a bed in the middle of the room with one poor guy covered up, people surrounding him to see (presumably) if he was still alive. They were holding his hands and speaking in slow, chanting voices, which sounded suspiciously like a funeral dirge. Some guy was smoking. A lady was eating what looked like cloves of garlic. The whole room smelled like a locker room at the end of the season. The one window was broken, the one light bulb was going dim, and every once and a while the guy on the bed would give a raspy choke, deep in his throat. I sat in a strait-backed wooden chair along side my Tibetan sheepherders and Mongol steepe riders for almost two hours. I mostly dozed in and out. At one point, the guy in the bed was gone. To this day, I don't know if he passed on or not.
You have to understand. I was sick. Really, really sick. Every bug and virus had waited at my doorstep for over a month, and then, when they were all collected together, jumped inside me and screamed "Welcome to China, sucker!!"
Obviously, I lived to tell the tale. And yep, every word of it is true.
Shanghai Putuo People's Hospital-August 31st, 2011.
5 very young girls in cocktail dresses came into the room where I was being treated for an infection on my foot. ALL were bloody, with black eyes and cuts on them. No emergency staff with wheelchairs, but apparently the pimp or whatever found out where they were, and also came rushing into the room with a small club, and proceeded to start bashing heads. Only after 30 or so people got involved did the police arrive and subdue the man. That's gotta be the worst thing I've ever seen anywhere!
As a western doctor working in hospitals here - I think all the above comments are an advert for medical insurance in China. If you have it - you go to the best clinics and western style hospitals, clean, professional and of course expensive. I too early on in China (8 years ago) had a kidney stone and fainted on a train. To wake up with a Chinese doctor's finger in my rectum (thought I had constipation). At the most disgusting hospital in Wuhan three doctors smoking stood over me with yes the one and only solution in China - a drip. Dirt, no facilities, beds never cleaned and all the rest as others have experienced. So as above - get that insurance and be healthy.