Today’s visit to the Shenzhen hospital for our health screenings was like a visit to a medical candy shop! Or an assembly line – difficult to really separate the two. We were essentially let loose on the third floor of the place and shuttled from room to room, where Chinese physicians poked at us for 5 seconds each, scribbled on a piece of paper, and sent us on our way with it to the next room. In an hour I got my blood work done, an EKG, and checkups from an ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, radiologist, and internist, and then even a sonogram (male pregnancy jokes got old). It concluded with the obligatory urine sample.
I’m pretty curious about what I just experienced – was that socialized medicine? Or is China’s system changing as it becomes more capitalistic? I should read more about it, I suppose. I do know that physician pay here is pretty shitty given the training they have to undergo – our Chinese instructor at Beida was married to a doctor, and he noted how rough they had it. Interesting stuff.
