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medicine in China


abhoriel

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Hi all,

 

I've recently qualified as a doctor and am wondering if there are any real opportunities for working in China as a doctor at some point in the future. Of course, I'd need to complete my training here in the UK first. Do many clinics/hospitals employ foreigners? What fields of medicine do they employ?

 

Doctors don't seem very popular in China from what I've read though..

 

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience!

 

 

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I think it depends where you go. The couple times I went to see a doctor I received excellent service and my condition cleared up more quickly than if I had seen a doctor in the US. But, the bigger issue is whatever is in the pills. The QA has improved, but you're still taking a risk when you take pills, or at least that was the information I got from my friends.

 

I think it was like $6 or something like that for the entire visit.

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Do you speak Chinese? If so, you can look into how feasible it is to work in a Chinese hospital. If not, your options are basically limited to expat hospitals, but that should absolutely be an option. Several expat hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai, and I imagine with economic development as it is, over the coming years there will only be more of them and in more cities.

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Doctors in local hospitals make less than USD 1500 a month, which is why many local doctors make money on the side by taking bribes from patients and drug companies. I doubt you'd be willing to make that little. Doctors at expat hospitals make international wages or more.

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It seems like a fairly lucrative career these days, if you are fully qualified and have the right training under your belt. From people I know you can get quite a good contract working in one of the expat hospitals/clinics, which includes a housing allowance, good annual holidays etc.

 

There are a lot of roles of GPs, but of course you need to be fully qualified in your home country before you can come out, as well as a few specialisations. I wouldn't even want to think about working in a Chinese hospital...

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I study Chinese Medicine and all my teachers said it's very very difficult to a foreign work as a doctor in China, because China already have many doctors and seems to have a law about it also. I don't know about international hospitals

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thanks everyone for all the replies!

 

International hospitals definitely seem the way to go, and thanks for the hospital names - their websites let me see what they're looking for.

 

As for a bit more background.. I am very recently married to a Chinese woman and I have been studying since not long after we met a few years ago. My Chinese isn't great at all, but I can get the gist of things and have conversations if they are not too complicated. It looks like knowing Chinese is often not requirement for positions in these expat hospitals!

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  • 3 weeks later...
At the most un-Chinese level, you will find that there are some foreign-focused institutions that are involved in the relatively lucrative market of caring for foreigners. United Family Clinics (Beijing and Shanghai) is the best-known example.

 

 

Just to add my view on this - I go to UFC for any medical needs in Beijing, and I'd guess that roughly 75% of the patients are local (wealthy) Chinese. My understanding is that the main source of income for the hospital is its maternity ward, which markets to rich Chinese considering paying high fees to give birth in the US/Canada/EU for quality concerns. 

 

Also, I agree that the quality of care there is similar to levels in the west - always felt it competent hands, whereas at some foreign-oriented outpatient clinics one sometimes feels more like they're in a Chinese hospital with nicer decoration and more smiles.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm not a doctor but rather an occasional patient in the excellent International Clinic in the Haikou City People's Hospital, which runs one of the family medicine training programs mentioned above. Which means access to American and western trained doctors at local Chinese hospital prices. I just wanted to say how amazing that is and how much I appreciate them. They are doing excellent work training local doctors and providing quality care for the haikou community, and I love them.

Hope you find a position in China, abhoriel, there is a lot of need for people like you!

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