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Hello again everybody,
As I stated in the earlier topic, I am coming to work in Chengdu at the end of this month.
I am trying to make this move smooth to my family (wife and baby), although I am doing my best at searching on the net, I still need a very good advice from the people that actually lives in Chengdu.
Is there any good hospital with good pediatrician and doctors that speak in English open 24 hrs for 7 days a week?
Besides being Bupa – Cigna best health insurance policy?
Thanking you so much! To all of you out there Expats and Native for helping me out!
Fabio
HuaXi is probably the best place to go. It’s open 24/7 and is the best hospital in Sichuan.
Here’s the address: 成都四川大学华西医院, 国学巷37号 and phone number: 028-85422286
They have an English speaking ward and a lot of the doctors and nurses speak English.
“English speaking ward” – yep, and occasionally a foreign doctor wandering around.
They do charge a _lot_ more than other hospital services, and quite frankly aren’t fully transparent with what’s going on. I had a kidney stone and went there – they dosed me up with morphene and put me in a room. 3 days later, no surgery or scan or anything, they had just determined it was too small and would exit itself.. I saw the foreign doctor wandering, asked her if there’s anything I can do because it seems useless to stay there when there is no specific treatment, she said “jump up and down”. I jumped up and down, less than an hour later, kidney stone gone – didn’t even feel it once it had passed the kidney exit – they wanted me to stay another day, I refused, went to pay bill. Still charged for that night, since it was like 2pm when I left the room — 7000rmb for a few nights in a basic room with a couple doses of morphene, not reimbursable by insurance.
they dosed me up with morphene and put me in a room
Score!
7000rmb for a few nights in a basic room with a couple doses of morphene
Oh. Sad ending.
“Oh. Sad ending.”
Yes, because the solution that made everything better within an hour, was to “jump up and down” — wish I knew that on day 1. 😀 F’in Huaxi.
That being said, we’ve visited No.1 hospital just south of Ikea ish (across 3rd ring) several times during wife’s pregnancy and it seems reasonable and is 24/7. If our baby has some issue, we’ll end up going there.
Hello Charlie and Rick, thanks for replying!
Rick, do you live in Chengdu with your baby?
I have a baby of 8 months and to be honest, I am a bit concern of his health issue in china, could you please give me any important information such as the address of the Hospital N0.1, best baby health insurance policy and pediatrician and food advice for the baby?
Much appreciated!!
Fab
Chengdu also has 2 clinics which cater to expats, Global Doctor and Parkway Health. They have American doctors and english speaking staff, but are only open during business hours with an out-of-hours number to call for medical emergencies. Both are covered by a BUPA managed Alltrust insurance policy.
@Fabio
The area you live will probably impact which hospital you go to – an emergency is an emergency. No. 1 hospital is convenient for anyone who lives near 3rd ring road in the south. There are probably better places – as Ben mentioned there are a few which cater to foreigners, and worth exploring, I’ve no experience with either so can’t comment on their facility/equipment/waits/etc.
Regarding baby health – that’s my #1 concern. The reasons I’m thinking about living Chengdu are largely based on the air pollution. My baby is 5 months old now, and we try to keep her indoors where we have air purifiers running 24/7 and can keep it relatively clean. Aside from air pollution, I don’t think there are many major drawbacks here over most other places for a baby at this age – you can buy imported baby formula of your choice (albeit a little expensive.. we use imported nestle powder which is about 350rmb/tin, more than double the price in say, Australia). You can also buy things like gerber baby food if your baby is ready for solids, and of course can buy/bring things like puree machines to make your own food. Install a good water purifier under your sink so you’re only mixing quality water, and no worries 😀 Plus I think inside the city the water quality is typically not so bad even straight from the tap, should you not have access to purified water at some point.
My company provides health insurance which covers the baby also, but I think it’s restricted to Chinese hospitals and “Chinese care” – which means things like the foreigner ward at Huaxi and foreign medicines are not covered. We’re not overly concerned with the insurance aspect in China, medicines and care are typically way cheaper than most countries which don’t offer public healthcare..so I honestly haven’t spent a lot of time looking into it, we’re financially sufficient incase of emergency and could always fly baby to Canada to take care of anything long-term/serious, baby is super healthy so far though and since we have an exit strategy, not worried so much about it myself.
Good luck with everything 😀
Hi everyone,
I was going to ask this exactly question and found the thread. Looking as well for a 24/7 English speaking hospital for emergencies. So far it seems that the Huaxi hospital is an option? does anyone else have tried it? do they actually have English speaking doctors and nurses?. Interested on knowing whether they are part of an insurance group e.g. Bupa. I have tried Global Doctors and Parkway but they are only open during office hours and forget about their 24/7 emergency lines (one only answered at the 3rd time and the other connects you to Shanghai!). I have to recognize that going to a Chinese hospital isn’t my first option but if they speak English that will be an option. Any experience to share? do we have to register? how it works? Does anyone has more info about other 24/7 English speaking medical services?
many thanks for any info!
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