If you need a doctor

Where to go

The international departments of large hospitals and private clinics work in English and in a way a newcomer will recognise. More expensive, but without the language barrier.

An ordinary public hospital is cheaper and stronger on specialists, but everything runs in Chinese and through an electronic queue.

What to bring

Your passport — without it no patient record will be opened.

Your policy and the insurer’s phone number: some clinics bill the insurer directly, the rest will want payment on the spot and reimburse you later.

A list of the medicines you take, written as active ingredients rather than brand names: the local equivalents are called something else.

Payment and documents

Payment normally comes first: the cashier, then the doctor. That is the norm, not a sign of a dubious place.

Ask for the discharge summary and the receipts in English straight away — without them the insurer will not reimburse you.

Prescriptions in China are tied to the clinic: the medicine is usually dispensed by its own pharmacy rather than any chemist in town.