Navigating Hospitals Overseas

Have you ever been in crowds that were packed so tightly your feet did not even need to touch the ground and you still would be upright?

That was the situation for one of the hospital lines that I was in today.  Dr. Yao has helped many expatriates in Beijing. Almost two weeks ago she came to my apartment personally when I contacted her about my hip which has been very painful for 3 months. Today she took time out of her busy schedule and accompanied me to two (yes 2) different hospitals to try to take care of all of my health needs. A lovely young friend from the university went with us to translate.

There are very few things that I would consider an utter impossibility for me to tackle. The intricacies of signing in at these hospitals would definitely be one of them. The first hospital had no way to type in English letters for my name and I had to make up a Chinese one in order to register. There are innumerable lines, no directions that are decipherable by a non-Chinese speaker, and unbelievable crowds. The line where my feet could have left the ground and no one would have noticed was at the premier Chinese hospital for bone and joint difficulties. There were literally hundreds moving to get to the counter. Dr. Yao took my place in line and sent me  and the interpreter on to wait by the appointment place. This is a very humbling experience to have a medical dr. take your place in mashing crowds, but it is an example of the service that is often extended to us as foreigners in China.

One was definitely a hospital for joint and bone difficulties. Many of the people were limping like me, and accompanied by family members to help them walk. Some were in wheelchairs or gurneys. One boy of 8 or 9 was being carried on his father’s back. And of course there were innumerable stairs and very few elevators to assist movement.

The tests and arrangements set in motion today will be interpreted in the next week or so. I saw two specialists at two different hospitals, about a half an hour taxi ride away from each other. I have the receipt for the lab work which was taken today. The list for the individual items written in very small Chinese is at least 12 inches long. I also paid for 3 different MRI scans which will happen next week, and some interesting herbal medicine hot compresses which you might be able to get high smelling. All of this cost under $500 US. Think about that for a minute.