My Experience in a Chinese Hospital

Unfortunately, I was injured yesterday and had to be taken to a Chinese hospital.  I tripped while walking down the stairs and bumped my head against the wall.  When I got back up, the guard at our dorm was screaming hysterically.  Before I could calm her down, I realized that I my head was drenched in blood.  The guard put her hand on my head to stop bleeding, and then she walked me to the school clinic.  The clinic is closed on Sundays, so we called the ambulance and had a Chinese student accompany me to the nearest hospital.  Because I live in the Developmental Zone, most of the people in the area are relatively poor.  As a result, the hospital caters to that demographic. 

The ambulance couldn’t pull into the hospital because a bunch of illegal taxis were blocking the entrance.  After I entered the hospital and looked around, I was very surprised that there was no lobby or center.  Every room had some specific use and was filled with people.  I was quickly taken to a table nearby and sat for a few minutes until the nurse arrived.  She examined my head, which was still bleeding, and then left.  I noticed a group of 6 men sitting in front of me and working on a computer.  Surprisingly, I couldn’t tell if they were patients or doctors.   Half an hour later, I  was asked to stand and talk to one of the men in front of me.  I explained to him what had happened.  He gave me a slip of paper and told me to walk upstairs.  My Chinese friend helped me up the steep staircase, and we finally found the operating center.  We sat down in what felt like a warehouse basement, and a woman told us to wait a little while.  The people next to me had rather severe injuries.  For example, the woman next to me had a finger that was in two pieces.

When a nurse called me in, I handed her my slip and she told me to go to Room 2.  The doors to the operating rooms were all open, so I saw the other patients being operated on.  The surgeon walked in and immediately started cutting my hair.  I asked him if the needles had been used before, and he told me that his gloves were brand new.

Not knowing how serious my injury was, I chose to stay at the hospital and let them take care of me.  The surgeon put a very bright light over me and started examining me like I was a specimen.  He then stitched my wound and put a head cover on me.  Unfortunately, the head cover was about 5 sizes too small and quite painful.  The doctor told me that it was finished and that I should not wash my head for 8 days.  He then handed me a tissue to wash my face.  There was neither a sink or a mirror in the room.  I left the tissue there and went downstairs to pay. 

I did not bring my insurance card and had very little cash on me.  As I approached the cashier, I became more and more worried.  Ironically, the bill was only 43 Yuan- less than $7.

Everything felt alright until I got back home.  As soon as I walked into the dorm, the students all stared at me in shock.  I didn’t understand why they were all so gloomy until I saw myself in the mirror.  Wow.  My face and head were still full of blood, and now I was wearing an awkward white hat that was also full of blood.  Feel free to check out my pictures to see how I looked.

The doctor didn’t even wash my hair or face before he gave me stitches.  Moreover, he told me I couldn’t wash my head or take the hat off for 8 days. 

I immediately went to a better hospital in the city, and I was an attraction wherever I went.  Imagine a white guy calmly walking around town with a broken head and a bloody face.  The second doctor couldn’t believe my condition.  He told me the first doctor used silk stitches and didn’t even disinfect my wound before stitching me up.   After the second doctor took care of me, I returned home reflecting on my day.

I felt so lucky that I was able to go to a nice hospital and be taken care of properly.  Lucky that I could go to the best Doctor and not just the cheapest.  Most Chinese would love to go to a hospital like the first one that I went to.  However, most Chinese don’t even have that option.

 As I returned home, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I learned from the whole experience.  Please check out the pictures.