A detailed insight
In the less than 10-minute video, Harvey, who has been living in China for about three years, broke down how much it costs to see a doctor in China for the reviewers, how to make an appointment, and what the differences are between China’s public healthcare system and those in the UK and the US based on his own experiences and comparisons.
In response to the misconception that healthcare service in China is expensive and only available to rich people, for example, Harvey said that, in a recent visit, he spent 30 yuan or around $4, to see a doctor at a hospital in downtown Shanghai, while the average salary in the city is reportedly about 13,500 yuan per month. “So, spending 30 yuan to be seen by a doctor is affordable to the general population.”
The level of technological integration in China’s public healthcare system also impressed Harvey. “Appointments, prescriptions, [and] even payments can be managed through a single app on the phone. This integration of technology has made the entire process smoother.” Conversely, in the UK, “one still has to call at exactly 8 am as soon as the line is open to try and get an appointment to see the doctor.”
“The combination of affordability, accessibility, and technological integration makes China’s healthcare system a model worth considering for other nations while it is not without its challenges... hopefully we can take a thing or two from China’s approach and implement it into our own systems,” Harvey concluded.
Harvey’s video has been watched nearly 18,000 times as of Tuesday.
It struck a chord with many viewers who also shared their experiences in the comments of how efficient China’s public healthcare service is.
“I was in China and my daughter got sick. Being a foreign visitor, I was helped by our host to visit a doctor at a small simple clinic. She was attended to in a second, checked, and prescribed a bunch of medication. [It] cost us 15 yuan all in all and in two days my daughter got well. Amazing system,” a YouTube user commented on Harvey’s video.