Chapter 13 How do Hong Kong people "see a doctor"?

Compared with the mainland, housing in Hong Kong is tight, and it is not a problem that can be solved with money (of course, "really rich" can buy a house), but for people to see a doctor, public hospitals, in addition to registration and a small amount of symbolic medical expenses, Everything else is free. This kind of welfare makes the mainland compatriots, especially the more and more mainland "compatriots" who can't afford the disease and look down on the doctor, can't help feeling envious—— Before I came to Hong Kong, I had heard a little about Hong Kong’s medical system. Because I have to be a permanent resident, no one can guarantee it. Because the climate is not suitable, the water and soil are not acclimatized, and I don’t get sick all year round, so it must be natural to care about the cost of medical treatment in Hong Kong.

However, when I arrived in Hong Kong, I was informed that although the journalists stationed by CCTV in Hong Kong have left the mainland, due to the low wages, they can still enjoy the original medical treatment in Hong Kong. You can go to the outpatient department of the Liaison Office in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. You don’t need to spend any more money yourself, so there is no serious illness. At first, I really didn’t take the opportunity to go to a public hospital in Hong Kong to “see a doctor”, so when a friend from the mainland asked me How do the hospitals in Hong Kong work? When ordinary people really don’t need to spend money to see a doctor, I was very passive. You can have an excuse to enjoy the high benefits of Hong Kong's medical system, and also earn it a psychological balance.

However, I don’t know if I don’t go to a public hospital in Hong Kong. When I really go to see a doctor when I’m sick, I realize that Hong Kong people actually have their own world of joys and sorrows in “seeing a doctor” when they are sick. — In November 2006, I got angry, and the anger ran back and forth between the seven orifices. In the last few days, it even ran to the anus, and the hemorrhoids were out of control.This disease is not serious but very uncomfortable. When I first had the disease, I went to the outpatient department of the Liaison Office and asked the doctor to see it. The doctor said that a blood clot had formed and asked me to go to a hospital in Hong Kong or Shenzhen for surgery. I heard " Operation"?I didn't want to take the knife, so I used the excuse that I was busy with work, and I didn't go.As a result, at the end of the month, the "Straight to Hong Kong" column of the family's 4 programs asked me to make a TV feature film for them on how to prevent AIDS in Hong Kong. It will be broadcast on December 1 on "World AIDS Day".On the first night of the interview, my back door continued to hurt so much that I could only lie on the bed and sleep. I was going to the foundation in the afternoon. How good is this virtue?Fortunately, the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation is located on the 5th floor of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Shau Kei Wan Clinic, so I wanted to use the little time between two interviews to visit the doctor.It can be seen that my idea is very smart, and I can kill two birds with one stone, right?Who knew that when we arrived at the registration office of the hospital, the staff actually said: "Why did you come to register now? The doctor has a lot of patients today, and there will be a long queue. I'm afraid you won't like it in a short time." Thinking of the public hospitals in Hong Kong, I have heard people say that although the price is cheap, but the diseases that cannot kill people, especially some chronic diseases, generally patients have to wait for a long, long time. This "long time" may be a few days , a few months, or maybe a few years.A friend of mine in Hong Kong was going to have a minor gynecological operation. She went to a public hospital and the doctor said that she would have to wait in line for at least two years. Later, she was introduced to a private hospital and was on the operating table within a week (of course the fees were scary); Another friend's relative had an enlarged prostate and needed surgery. The old man was reluctant to go to a private hospital and spend a lot of money, so he waited in line for the "public hospital". It was said that the old man waited for five years, and finally everyone Died of other emergencies, his prostate surgery was still not done in a public hospital.

Mainlanders think that seeing a doctor in Hong Kong is a kind of enjoyment?Public hospitals have low fees, but they have to wait; private hospitals, where the conditions are good and the speed is fast, but not all Hong Kong people are white-collar workers. There is a world of difference between "public" and "private" in Hong Kong. Be willing, everyone can afford it—— According to the data: Hong Kong has dozens of public hospitals in Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Zealand; while there are only 12 private hospitals, but there are countless general outpatient clinics and specialist outpatient clinics run by private doctors.Among them, the registration fee for general outpatient clinics in public hospitals is only 45 yuan, and 60 yuan for specialist clinics; it is as high as 200 to 400 yuan in private hospitals.In addition, public hospitals in Hong Kong generally only charge 68 yuan per day for general hospitalization, including meals, examinations, medicines, and operations; but what about private hospitals?Another property manager in our building had a serious stomach problem in 2006 and had to undergo surgery. Because he couldn’t wait, he went to a private hospital. But after inquiring, a surgery would cost hundreds of thousands. Later, he was in Hong Kong. The public hospital finally solved it (the real emergency was still very fast), and the operation fee only cost more than 400 yuan. You see, is there a "big difference" in the charges here?

Hong Kong people can't queue up for public hospitals, and they can't afford to pay for private hospitals. The citizens unanimously came up with a countermeasure, which is to call and call "white car" (ambulance). Emergency department, no matter how embarrassing your public hospital is to make people wait in a long queue, but this trick will not work if there are too many people. The "emergency department" in public hospitals also has a triage system, even if you are in an ambulance. If you come here, the nurse will also give you a preliminary examination first. After the initial examination, if it is necessary to let you see the doctor immediately, if it is not necessary, or if there is a "flaw", the nurse will only give you A little pill is hastily stuffed, and you are sent back to the clinic the next morning.

In 2005, a colleague of mine suffered from toothache for several days. He took the medicine by himself, and he didn’t care about it all the time.I couldn't bear it that night, so I took out my ID card (only Hong Kong residents can enjoy the preferential treatment in public hospitals) and was driven by another colleague to a Hong Kong public hospital in Western District.After a long time, he said to me: "I will never forget the complicated experience of seeing a doctor in a public hospital in Hong Kong twice." It means that I want to hear a "story". His experience can be described as ups and downs——

The first time I came to a public hospital at night, I spent 100 yuan for the emergency registration fee. The triage nurse came over, checked his condition, and proved that he was not playing tricks, but really had a toothache. In the second column of the form, he was given a tick on "Extremely Painful".After reading this, the colleague thought to himself: "Very painful"?This is much worse than the "comparative pain" and "general pain" in the third and fourth columns, and it is only one step away from the "endangered condition" in the first column. It is estimated that the doctor will give it soon. He sees.However, after waiting for 40 minutes, the nurse came to call him. After entering the room, he finally saw the doctor. The doctor did not examine him, but "asked the doctor" with his mouth, and then prescribed a small bag of painkillers and sent him back.My colleague's head was about to explode, and he said, "I'm in such pain now, why do you only prescribe me medicine and not deal with it? If medicine can do it, I have already taken a large amount of it from yesterday to today." I took painkillers, but they didn’t work at all?!” The doctor said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but we’re just a general emergency department, not a dental department. Don’t you know? None of the public hospitals in Hong Kong has a dental department. For dentistry, you can only go to a private hospital or find a private doctor."

The colleague clutched his cheek, the angrier he got, the worse his teeth hurt.Although he knows that private hospitals in Hong Kong are very expensive, but this toothache can't be done without seeing it?So I asked the doctor patiently: "Then can you tell me, how much will it cost to go to a private clinic until the teeth are looked after in a situation like mine?" The doctor then let him open his mouth and look inside. , and then said: "Oh, it's wisdom teeth, accompanied by inflammation of the gums, and surgery is required. The cost is about 5,700 to 6,000 Hong Kong dollars."

5,700 to 6,000 Hong Kong dollars?Are you right?This is at my own expense! No matter how I think about it, my colleagues can't imagine that a private hospital in Hong Kong will cost five or six thousand for a wisdom tooth. I really don't want to be that "taken advantage of".In the end, I endured it for another night, and went to Shenzhen by car the next day to be hospitalized. As a result, I didn’t have any surgery in Shenzhen. I only had two days of injections, which cost 220 yuan. On the third day, my tooth was healed and the pain was gone. . This is the first time. The second time, I accidentally sprained my foot while playing football, and it was red, swollen and painful again.But this time, because of the experience of watching "public" last time, my colleague did not go, and was still reluctant to go to "private". Instead, he thought that apart from public and private hospitals in Hong Kong, there are also some charitable hospitals and outpatient clinics. Ministry, this kind of hospital doesn't need anything, not even the registration fee.

As a result, when I arrived at the Charity Hospital, my colleagues saw that the people who came to this kind of hospital to enjoy "free medical care" were all elderly people from Hong Kong. People are some of the hardest poor people in Hong Kong that even the public hospitals look down on.The doctor's words not only made my colleague, a young man, really uncomfortable, but the doctor also said: "Although everything is free here, you need to take an X-ray for fear of breaking your foot. All the hospitals in Hong Kong don’t come with this kind of service, you still have to go to other specialized clinics to get a film first.” Oh my God!The young man went to a special clinic to take a film (it still cost more than 200 Hong Kong dollars), and then returned to the charity hospital to show the film to the doctor. The doctor saw that there was no fracture and gave it to him. After taking the medicine, he was asked to come back for a re-examination in three days. My colleague didn’t go after three days. Firstly, his feet were basically on the mend. Another more important reason was that he said: “I’m really embarrassed, and I can’t bear to go again. and those poor old people in Hong Kong to rob others of their already limited charitable resources."

You said, do Hong Kong people have the blessing to see a doctor? "Don't be sick if you have anything, don't have money if you don't have anything." After talking for a long time, I still remembered the phrase "true truth" that the old people in the mainland often say, and then I felt that it was a way out!