Chinese Medicine

A word about the Chinese health care system. Disaster. Doctors in sophisticated cities like Shanghai are often paid less than the median income. Their revenues come from prescription drugs, leading, not surprisingly, to over prescription. This article highlights the problems associated with this approach:

Almost 70 percent of child pneumonia patients in a recent Chinese survey were resistant to drugs used to treat the disease due to overuse of antibiotics, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

The figure climbed to nearly 90 percent in a more targeted study of three children's hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, said the official Health News, published by the ministry.

Medicine abuse is making about 10,000 Chinese children deaf each year, state media said in April, putting the blame firmly on doctors and parents alike for the overuse of antibiotics

I have not been to a Chinese hospital. My colleague in Beijing accompanied a friend to a hospital for treatment of a cold (there are no traditional doctor's offices, so Chinese go to the hospital for everything, never seeing the same physician). He described a room full of chairs and saline IVs. Have a cold? The hospitals pump you full of sugar water, and you walk out bouncing off the walls with the same cold. It is an absurd system.

Doctor's specialize in particular fields. All doctors. There are no general physicians. If a patient suffers from a stomach disorder that is caused by something outside the stomach, the gastroenterologist has no ability to diagnose the problem and neither do the other doctors. The government is aware of the problem and is now encouraging general practitioners. The Chinese are aware of the problem and special care western-style hospitals are popping up for upper income and upper middle income Chinese who can afford them.

If you live in the US, be thankful.