Maggie Goes to the Doctor!

The original title of this was Maggie Goes to the Hospital, but I didn't want to freak anyone out ;p

Due to lady problems I got to experience Chinese hospitals for the first time (the school clinic doesn't have a gynecologist, so we got to explore the main hospital in Gulou). We woke up at  8 am to get in line (they don't do appointments here, you first need to know what part of the body needs help, then go to that window to get a number) and then went to the waiting room for my number to be called.

Lily now wants me to go with her if she ever needs to see the doctor, apparently one woman was trying to cut Chinese-style (where you just mob the window, elbows up!) but when she saw me she didn't want to lose face in front of a foreigner by  being rude, so she let us go. Go being a 外国人!

That's my name 赛玛丽 second from the bottom!

In the gynecologist waiting area there aren't any men allowed, so we sat among the women folk and waited for our number to pop up on the screen. It was very efficient. I'm not sure if it was because it was early or because I only needed to see a general practitioner and not a specialist, but we had only sat down for 5 minutes when my number was called. We went in, I got tested, and then went to pay for the test before bringing the sample and the recipt to the lab. We waited about half an hour, got the results, went back to the doctor for a perspcription, went back to the first floor to pay and then got the medication. Shablam, an hour and a half later we were done.

The whole process written out

I thought that the Chinese method of paying for any tests first was interesting and did make a lot of sense. Apparently it's like that all around, one friend needed an X-ray and had to pay for it first, and then had to pay for the medication he needed to take on the spot before getting it. The process was very efficient, although I think it would have taken a lot longer if we hadn't gotten there so early.

This pay window had all of the older people lining up in front of it, I found out because it's the one with the Chinese Communist Party member in it!

All in all I thought that this was a very interesting experience, and now I know what to do if I ever need to see the doctor again :) All is well and I have a new China experience under my belt. Love,

Maggie