How to See a Doctor in China: A Practical Guide for Foreigners

The 60-second version

• Your passport is your ID. You need neither a Chinese ID card nor a local phone number at the counter.
• You register with a department, not a GP. There is no family-doctor gatekeeper or referral chain.
• The best value is the international department (国际部) of a Grade 3A public hospital: senior specialists, some English and prices far below a private hospital.
• You pay at every step — registration, each test, then medicine. Keep the fapiao (发票) and a stamped diagnosis certificate.
• 120 is the ambulance number. The call is in Chinese, and the ambulance is not free.

The three tiers, and who each one is for

Chinese public hospitals are graded, and Grade 3A (三甲, sān jiǎ) is the top tier. Within that system, three routes matter to a visitor.

Regular outpatient (普通门诊) is the cheapest and busiest: register, queue, and get a short consultation, usually in Mandarin. It suits a straightforward problem.

An international department (国际部 or 特需) sits inside a public Grade 3A hospital. It uses the same senior doctors, with appointment slots, English-speaking staff and shorter waits. It costs several times a regular registration but remains far cheaper than private care — the sweet spot for most visitors.

A private international hospital — United Family, Raffles, Jiahui and similar — is the closest thing to a hospital for foreigners: English as standard, direct insurance billing at many, and the highest prices. Standalone clinics (诊所) are fine for minor problems but are Mandarin-first and rarely set up for foreign insurance.

Tier	Registration or consultation	English	Best for
Regular outpatient (普通门诊)	¥20–100	Rarely	Simple problems, daytime visits, cost-sensitive care
International department (国际部 / 特需)	¥200–600, up to ¥1,000+ at top hospitals	Usually some	Most visitors who want a senior specialist and less friction
Private international hospital	Often ¥800–2,000 for a consultation	Standard	Speed, comfort, insurance direct billing

There is no general practitioner. You choose the department directly: 内科 internal medicine, 外科 surgery, 消化内科 gastroenterology, 皮肤科 dermatology, 眼科 ophthalmology, 口腔科 dentistry, 耳鼻喉科 ENT, 骨科 orthopaedics, 儿科 paediatrics. If you do not know which one, show your symptom at the 分诊台 (triage desk). A fever may send you through a separate 发热门诊 (fever clinic) first.

How to register and be seen

1. Choose the hospital and department. Book through the hospital's WeChat or Alipay mini-program, by phone, or in person. Appointment slots usually open one to fourteen days ahead.
2. Bring your passport. Register at the window or a self-service kiosk. Some kiosks only accept Chinese ID cards, so a foreign passport may mean the manual window.
3. Wait for your number, then see the doctor. Consults are short: lead with the main symptom and how long you have had it.
4. Pay for tests before each one. In China you pay first, step by step, rather than receiving a bill at the end.
5. Do the tests — lab (检验科) or radiology (放射科) — and collect the results, often through the hospital app.
6. Take the results back to the same doctor the same day — no second registration — then collect medicine at the hospital pharmacy (药房).

Bring your passport, insurance card if you have one, a list of your medication by generic name, and any previous records or imaging in English.

What a visit costs in 2026

Public hospital prices are set by the city and are low by Western standards. International departments run roughly three to five times the regular rate; private hospitals more. The ranges below are 2026 references from Grade 3A public hospitals in major cities — confirm with the hospital before you go.

Item	2026 reference (RMB)
Regular registration	¥20–100
International department registration	¥200–600 (up to ¥1,000+ at top Beijing and Shanghai hospitals)
Blood panel (CBC and basic metabolic)	¥100–300
Chest X-ray	¥100–200
Ultrasound	¥150–400
CT, one region	¥300–700
MRI, one region	¥600–1,200
Minor emergency department visit	¥300–800
IV drip, per session	¥100–300

Hospitals take cash, UnionPay, Visa and JCB cards, WeChat Pay and Alipay, but foreign cards occasionally fail at older counters, so carry a fallback.

English support: where it exists

English is not universal in Chinese hospitals. Finding an English-speaking doctor is easiest in international departments, which usually have English-speaking staff, and some public hospitals offer free translation help if you ask. Private international hospitals are English-standard. Everywhere else, expect Mandarin and bring a translation app, or a bilingual companion.

For anything consequential — a new diagnosis, a procedure, a second opinion — the language gap is the real risk, not the medicine. A medical interpreter can sit in the consultation and make sure your history is understood; see our Chinese interpreter service if that is the part you want covered.

Insurance, payment and the paperwork

China's public health insurance does not cover foreign visitors. If you have travel or international health insurance, call the insurer before you go and ask which hospitals in this city bill them directly, and whether anything needs pre-authorisation. At a regular public clinic you pay and claim afterwards. International departments may ask for your insurance card and a letter of guarantee.

Ask for two documents before you leave: the 诊断证明 (stamped diagnosis certificate) and the 发票 (official fapiao, not the card receipt). Insurers usually want both, plus itemised bills. Getting duplicates later is painful.

Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card before you arrive; it is the smoothest way to pay, and our WeChat Pay guide covers the setup.

Emergencies: 120, 110 and 119

Dial 120 for an ambulance, 110 for police and 119 for fire. The calls are free. In some cities 999 also reaches an ambulance. The 120 operator speaks Chinese; in Shanghai the service can connect a third-party translator, but expect delays.

An ambulance is not free. Using Shanghai as an example, the charge is a base fee plus a per-kilometre rate after the first three kilometres, plus waiting and pre-hospital care; the total is usually under ¥300 unless the distance is long. In a critical case you are taken to the nearest suitable hospital rather than the one you choose.

In a real emergency, a taxi to the nearest Grade 3A emergency department is often faster than waiting for an ambulance, especially outside the biggest cities. Critically ill patients are treated first and registered afterwards.

Pharmacies and everyday medicine

Pharmacies (药店) are marked with a green cross and are usually on the next block. Chains such as Watson's and Nepstar are reliable, and larger cities have 24-hour pharmacies.

You can buy painkillers, cold and flu medicine, antihistamines, antacids, oral rehydration salts and antidiarrhoeals without a prescription. Most antibiotics need a Chinese doctor's prescription, and a prescription from home generally will not be filled. Show the Chinese characters for the generic name, not a brand name.

For minor stomach trouble, oral rehydration salts are the item that matters most. The forum post on stomach trouble covers the full pharmacy list and the 48-hour rule.

Four situations worth reading first

The forum has detailed, price-checked posts on what visitors actually run into. These four are worth reading before you need them:

• Dental work in China: implants, crowns and root canals — private-clinic prices and why a fresh implant takes six to nine months.
• The full-body checkup — what ¥1,500 buys and which tests are worth paying for.
• Stomach trouble in China — what to buy, when to stop self-treating, and what a public hospital visit costs.
• Dog bites and rabies in China — the 15-minute wound wash, the vaccination schedules, and what immunoglobulin costs.

Rabies is the one item here that is genuinely time-critical. If the skin is broken, wash the wound with soap and running water for fifteen minutes, then go to a 犬伤门诊 or local CDC the same day. China uses either the five-dose schedule (days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28) or the 2-1-1 schedule (two doses on day 0, then days 7 and 21), depending on the vaccine. Finish the course, even if that means continuing it at home.

The posts are experience and reference, not medical advice; prices were checked in October 2026.

Sort these out before you need them

• Alipay or WeChat Pay working with a foreign card
• A translation app that works offline
• Your insurance policy number and 24-hour assistance line saved offline
• A medication and allergy list in English and Chinese
• The address of the nearest international clinic saved in your phone

That last one takes two minutes in your hotel room and saves an hour of panic later.

Quick answers