There are often media and even some doctors who say that China’s medical care is of high quality and low price. Today, we don’t talk about all kinds of patients. From our own perspective, we should examine Chinese medical care and see if Chinese medical care is really [high quality and low price]?
High quality? Jokes!
The outpatient corridor was full of seats, with nurses, patients and their families shuttling among them.
Two doctors or even three doctors in a clinic are visiting at the same time.
This is not the most exaggerated, The emergency clinic of a hospital in Nanjing turned out to be a big [office]. The low partition board is used to form the [office space] of each doctor. Consultation, physical examination and even multi-disciplinary consultation are conducted in such an environment without any concealment. It is said that the purpose is to convene doctors of various disciplines for consultation, and the advantages and disadvantages of the general emergency system and the specialized system are not discussed. Has such a design ever considered the feelings of patients?
China’s medical care is very convenient, enough to meet the basic diagnosis and treatment of some diseases, but if you think this is [high quality], then you are totally wrong.
Measurement of quality
The quality of medical care should include at least:
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Full consideration based on chronic diseases and patients’ health status;
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Diagnosis and treatment of diseases;
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Necessary humanistic care;
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The quality of the medical environment includes privacy protection, quiet and comfortable experience.
In this way, is our medical care of high quality?
Medical treatment is not just treatment.
Medical treatment has two levels:
The first level is called treatment.
The second level is called care.
Doctors who can cure diseases are pacesetters in the system, and doctors who can cure diseases and care more are really good doctors.
Most of our doctors, who have dozens or hundreds of outpatients every day, communicate with patients for only a few minutes on average, not to mention considering problems from the perspective of patients.
Please understand that medical treatment is not just medical treatment. Please put away your cold and be a doctor with temperature.
Medical charges
Is China’s Medical Expenses Cheap?
Patients think it is expensive and doctors think it is cheap.
Let me give the simplest example. In the United States, even if you have good insurance, the self-paid part of each visit to a specialist is still around US $30, while in China, the registration fee for public hospitals is only around 7 yuan.
U.S. Hospitals do not require patients to pay fees after they are hospitalized, and bills will be sent to patients’ homes after they are discharged from hospital. Considering that some patients (especially uninsured patients) may not be able to repay the expenses, uninsured patients may be rejected when receiving cases in major U.S. Hospitals.
Compared with them, although Chinese hospitals allow patients to pay continuously during the diagnosis and treatment, they do not directly refuse patients to be admitted because patients cannot pay the fees. In this regard, Chinese hospitals can be said to be very kind. What’s more, China’s medical expenses are far lower than those in the United States.
Free is not a good thing.
As we all know, some European countries have implemented free medical care systems.
In Hong Kong, citizens who go to general outpatient clinics in public hospitals are charged a package fee, and they can only pay less than 50 yuan.
In Shenzhen, opposite Hong Kong, the package fee for a general clinic in a hospital is 200 yuan.
For patients, the fees in Europe and Hong Kong are obviously much cheaper.
However, this kind of free operation is not a 100% good thing. The problem of scheduling the operation has led to the continuous delay of many operations that should be performed as soon as possible. Even European patients have gone to Beijing for treatment. There are also news reports that a large number of Hong Kong patients have poured into Shenzhen to seek medical resources.
Therefore, although China’s medical services are not of high quality, they are still much more convenient and faster than those in Europe and Hong Kong.
Perfection is not what you want.
High quality and low price sound like a beautiful dream, but it must mean quite high national financial allocation, full allocation of medical resources and absolute rationality of the medical system.
At present, no country’s medical system is perfect, but China is still worth trying more. From Dr. Zhang Qiang’s resolute departure from the system to Superman Yu Ying’s clinic to the clove clinic to be opened soon. Each attempt means a new hope.
Responsible Editor: Fei Fei
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