Healthcare
Seeing a doctor in Shanghai, explained
China’s hospitals are fast, cheap and well equipped. They are also organised in a way that makes no sense to anyone who did not grow up with them. Here is the map.
The one thing to understand first
In most countries you pick a doctor. In China you pick a hospital, and the hospital assigns you a department. There is no family GP who refers you onward, no clinic that handles everything. If your problem is your knee, you go to orthopaedics — and if you register for the wrong department, you will be politely sent back to the queue to start again.
This is the single most common way foreigners lose a day in a Chinese hospital. Not language, not money. The wrong queue.
Also worth knowing up front
You will pay before treatment, not after. Registration fee first, then tests, then medicine — each at a separate window or QR code. Bring a payment method that works in China, because cash is increasingly awkward and foreign cards are often refused at hospital counters.
Three routes, three different experiences
Almost every decision about healthcare in Shanghai comes down to which of these you choose. They are not better or worse — they are different trades between time, money and comfort.
International department of a public hospital
Large Shanghai hospitals run a separate international wing — often called the VIP or international clinic — with its own entrance, its own waiting room, and staff who speak English. You get the same specialists as everyone else, in a calmer building, for a consultation fee that is higher than the public rate but still a fraction of a Western clinic.
This is usually the right answer for a visitor with a real medical problem: an injury, an infection that is not settling, a chronic condition that needs a proper look.
Waiting time
Moderate — book ahead where possible
English
Usually good, occasionally thin
Cost
Higher than public, far below home
International private hospital or clinic
Names like Jiahui, United Family, ParkwayHealth and Shanghai East will be familiar if you have expat colleagues. Western-style service, English-speaking doctors who trained abroad, appointment-based, direct billing with many international insurers.
The trade is straightforward: you pay international prices — which can be close to what you would pay at home — in exchange for a process that feels familiar and a consultation you can actually follow in your own language.
Waiting time
Short, by appointment
English
Native or near-native
Cost
International pricing
Ordinary public outpatient department
The real Chinese hospital experience: the one your local colleagues use, where a specialist consultation costs less than a sandwich in London. Excellent value, excellent medicine, and almost nothing in English.
The obstacles are practical, not medical: an app in Chinese, a registration window with no English sign, a department maze across several buildings, and a doctor who may see forty patients before lunch. Go this route alone only if you read Chinese, or if the cost difference genuinely matters.
Waiting time
Long, and queues start before dawn
English
Rarely
Cost
Very low
How you actually get seen
Four ways in, roughly in order of how much you will want to use them as a foreigner.
Book the international department in advance
Phone, WeChat, or email — some international wings take appointments in English. This is the only route where you can genuinely arrange a specific time slot. For anything non-urgent, do this.
Walk in and register on site
Everyone does this, and it works. Bring your passport — it is your patient ID here. At the registration hall, find the international or foreign patient window if there is one; otherwise join the queue and show the department name written in Chinese on your phone.
Use the hospital’s app or WeChat account
Faster once you are set up, and it lets you pay and see test results without queueing. The catch: almost all of them are Chinese-only, and many require a mainland phone number. Worth doing if you live here; skip it for a one-week visit.
Ask someone local to book for you
A colleague, your hotel, or a service like ours. This is not just translation — it is knowing which department the symptom actually belongs to, which is the part that saves the day.
In a real emergency, call 120
120 is the ambulance number in mainland China. Emergency lines are staffed in Chinese; if you cannot speak Mandarin, have someone nearby call, or go straight to the nearest hospital emergency department by taxi — in central Shanghai that is often faster than waiting for an ambulance anyway.
Emergency departments
Major public hospitals run 24-hour emergency departments with triage, imaging and surgery on site. They are busy and they are not designed for foreigners, but they are competent and they will treat you. International private hospitals also run emergency rooms with English-speaking staff and much shorter waits, at a correspondingly higher price.
For anything where you are deciding between the two: if it is life-threatening, go to the nearest emergency department, full stop. If it is urgent but not critical, the private route will cost more and waste far less of your day.
What it costs, and why
The gap between Chinese and Western medical pricing is real, but it is not uniform. Here is where the savings actually are.
Where China is dramatically cheaper
- • Dental work — crowns, implants, root canals
- • Full-body health check-up packages
- • Blood tests and standard imaging
- • Physiotherapy and rehabilitation
- • Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture
- • Routine specialist consultations
Where the gap narrows or disappears
- • International private hospital consultations
- • Imported medication and branded devices
- • Anything requiring an English-speaking specialist for a long session
- • Emergency care at private facilities
- • Procedures where you need a specific imported implant brand
Paying at the hospital
Alipay and WeChat Pay are accepted almost everywhere and can be linked to an international card. Many hospital counters still struggle with foreign plastic, and cash works but slows everyone down. Set up a payment app before you need a hospital — this is the one piece of preparation that pays for itself immediately.
Insurance and direct billing
International private hospitals in Shanghai usually work with the big global insurers and can bill them directly — you show a card and walk out. Public hospital international departments are more mixed: some bill directly, many expect you to pay and claim afterwards.
If you plan to claim, the paperwork matters more than you would expect. Ask for a formal invoice (εη₯¨) and an itemised statement, not just a receipt. Insurers routinely reject claims that arrive as a single lump sum with no breakdown.
Travel insurance sold in your home country often excludes elective treatment abroad. Check before you assume — the words to look for are “elective” and “pre-existing”.
What to bring
Your passport
It is your medical record number. Nothing happens without it.
A payment method that works
Alipay or WeChat Pay with a linked card, plus some cash as backup.
Previous records and scans
In English is fine, on your phone is fine. Doctors here read images well.
A list of your medication
Generic names, not brand names — Chinese brands differ and pharmacies will not recognise yours.
Your insurance details
Policy number and the insurer’s 24-hour assistance line, not just the card.
The department name in Chinese
Written down or screenshotted. This one habit prevents most wrong-queue days.
Questions foreigners ask most
Can I see a doctor in Shanghai without speaking Chinese?
Yes — at an international department or a private international hospital. Outside those, assume no English and plan accordingly. “A little English” at a public registration desk usually means a phone translation app held up to your face, which works better than it sounds but is not a consultation.
Do I need an appointment?
For international departments and private clinics, yes — book a few days ahead. For public outpatient, no, but you will queue. For an emergency, never.
Will they accept my foreign health insurance?
Some private hospitals bill international insurers directly. Most public hospitals will not — you pay and claim. Ask the hospital before you go, and confirm the specific insurer rather than assuming “international insurance” is one category.
Can I get prescribed medicine from my home country?
Chinese hospitals prescribe from the Chinese formulary, which includes many of the same molecules under different names. Bring your list with generic names and the doctor can usually match it. Some imported brands are simply not stocked, and some medications common at home are controlled here.
How do I get an English medical report?
International departments issue English reports on request, sometimes for a fee. At public hospitals, ask for the Chinese report and a certified translation. If you need it for insurance or for a doctor at home, request it on the day — coming back later is considerably harder.
Is medical tourism to Shanghai actually a thing?
It is growing, and Shanghai’s larger hospitals have been expanding international patient services deliberately. Dental work, health screening, and certain elective procedures attract people from Australia, the US and Europe on price alone. It is not a packaged industry the way it is in Thailand or Turkey — the infrastructure is thinner and you have to organise more yourself.
What about traditional Chinese medicine?
TCM hospitals and departments are legitimate, regulated parts of the system, not a tourist attraction. Acupuncture for pain and rehabilitation is the area where foreign patients most often report benefit. It is also the area where language matters most, because the diagnostic conversation is long and qualitative.
Seven guides, written for someone who just landed
The long versions of the questions above. Each one assumes you do not yet know which door to walk through, and each one includes the prices.
Booking
How to book a hospital appointment as a foreigner
Which of the three doors you need, how to book when the system asks for a passport, and what happens once you arrive.
Where to go
English-speaking hospitals and clinics
What each hospital in Shanghai is actually for, what the public and private tiers cost, and how to choose in 60 seconds.
Costs
What a health check-up actually costs
What is inside a package, which add-ons are worth paying for, and what to do with the report afterwards.
Insurance
Direct billing, reimbursement and the paperwork
Which hospitals bill your insurer directly, the four documents every claim needs, and the exclusions that catch expats out.
Dental
Implants, crowns and what they actually cost
Three price tiers, what a quote includes and leaves out, and the four-to-nine-month timing trap for visitors.
Children
Taking a child to the doctor in Shanghai
Where to go with a fever at 9pm, why triage is by temperature rather than arrival, and the green vaccination book.
TCM
What a first TCM appointment is actually like
Pulse and tongue diagnosis, real session prices, what the evidence supports, and the herb and needle risks.
If you would rather not do this alone
We accompany foreigners to hospitals in Shanghai: registration, the consultation itself, tests, pharmacy, and a written English summary afterwards. From $389 a day, and we will tell you honestly if you do not need us.
Medical disclaimer
This page is general information about how the healthcare system in Shanghai works. It is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment guidance, and it is not a recommendation of any specific hospital, clinic or practitioner. Fees, services and policies change without notice — always confirm directly with the provider. In an emergency in mainland China, call 120.