From Tianya:
A Hong Kong compatriot’s feelings about medical accidents in mainland
Summary: A Hong Konger describes her positive experience with the health care system in Hong Kong.
[The actual description was pretty lengthy so I have summarized the main points.]
- While out with her father, she had a bad fall in a shopping mall at Causeway Bay. Within 1 minute, 2 security guards appeared and showed her a lot of attention even though she said that the accident was clearly caused by carelessness on her part. The guards replied that they had the responsibility to attend to her as the incident occurred in the mall, and even said that the mall management will take responsibility for this incident if need be.
- Eventually, seeing that the injury on one of her legs was pretty serious, the guards called for an ambulance which arrived in about 5mins. The LZ and her father thanked the guards, who said that they will call her that night.
- Entering the hospital, the LZ was reminded by some nurses that if her father was a civil servant, she (as a family member) need not pay the basic 100元 fee, to which she replied that her father had retired and thus she had to pay.
- At the ER, she was classified as a 2nd priority emergency patient (there were priority classes) and she waited for about 30mins before being called.
- At the treatment room, a nurse checked her medical records which indicated that she took her last tetanus shot 20 years ago, and decided to give her a strengthening shot. Following that, a female doctor came in, examined her feet, thought it was fine and sent her off for an X-ray, but not before insisting that she took some painkillers.
- After reviewing the X-ray results, the doctor said that her leg was basically fine, got a nurse to help clean her wounds, issued her some painkiller, ointment and papers which allowed her to return to the hospital to clean her wound (everyday for 2 weeks), for free.
- The entire process took about 2.5 hours. By this time, she could already stand, and when her father received her, he said that the 2 guards from the mall called awhile ago and inquired about her condition.
- That night, while she was speaking to a friend from the Mainland via MSN:
Friend: Why are you so late tonight?
Me: Ohh, a lot happened today… (then I described the whole incident)
Friend: Are you OK now? Do take care in the future!
Me: You often say, there ain’t much difference between XX (the city my friend lives in) and HK. Don’t mind if I ask, if the same thing happened in XX, what would be happen?
Friend: I doubt anyone would bother.
Me: What about the hospital? Would it be the same both in XX and HK?
Friend: Hehe, we have a lot of private hospitals in XX which will be able to provide the same level of service and medical expertise!
Me: But today, I went to a public hospital, paid 100元, and enjoyed all this. Had I stayed there overnight, it would still be 100元. Do the common people in XX have access to such levels of welfare? Could they all have afforded treatment at a private hospital?
Friend: 唉 [Sigh]
Me: Good medical care should be a welfare given to all, not a privilege enjoyed by some! I hope that in the future, our friends in the mainland will not need worry about falling sick!
Friend: …唉 [Sigh]
Comments from Tianya:
k800k:
No wonder so many are doing everything they can to emigrate to HK.
司空仪:
HKers are so blessed.
刘秋珍:
Seeing this, I cried, crying with mixed emotions (18 to be exact)
北园一翁:
No comments. I cried. As we say over here “having no illness is a blessing”. I look down on illness.
香港女同胞 (Note: She’s the thread starter or LZ):
Sorry to make you cry. Let me tell you, I cried that night after speaking to my friend. Yes, China today is strong and powerful, especially her economy and a small portion has prospered. But life remains hard for a large majority, medical care is expensive, and good treatment is not guaranteed even after spending some money. I do not want to criticise the government (and have this thread removed) =.= I only wanted to share my little experience. Should a day come when every Chinese citizen is equal, receives fully covered emergency treatment for 100元, that is the day when we have truly stood up.
天边一只雁2:
Socialism is the initial stage of communism. When we attain a communist society, we would be 10,000 times better off than HK!
梦想去飞翔:
How many cancer patients in HK have experienced delays while waiting to be transferred over to specialist doctors? How many patient’s condition had worsened while waiting in line for a bed at the public hospitals? Can the LZ comment on this? Most importantly, can the LZ tell everyone how much the HK government spends on medical treatments? How high is the medical expense per capita? And will the Chinese people be willing to subsidize this much? There are no free lunches in this world!
好人经常领卡:
I admit that the difference welfare standards between the mainland and HK are incomparable. But it doesn’t feel as if the thread was written by someone from HK. I don’t even think she’s from GuangDong.
natty26:
Why does this thread feel weird and kind of sour?
The purpose in writing this thread? To show off? To deal a blow? Criticism? Or 标题党？
You mean to say there have been no medical related incidents within HK?
Every country has a rich-poor gap, please do not take a part for the whole.
At least within my circle, no one has vexed over medical expenses.
金成日(in reply to the above post):
Are your servants living in Zhongnanhai? [Note: Zhongnanhai = CCP HQ]
affluent1:
No need to cry, HK is now our underling, it would be like the mainland within 50 years, no need to worry.
马甲第四季:
So you have to take an tetanus injection in HK if you happen to trip, kinda troublesome.
要雷就雷潜水员:
I’m willing to unconditionally accept and be administered by the HK government.
iguitar:
In mainland hospitals, even when you are almost breathing your last, you still have to pay a deposit first, else they would rather watch you die.
tiancai0597:
Too many mainlanders, hence the low worth.
joyalion:
I must study hard, work hard, bring my wife and children, and determinedly in the most crowded/busiest area of Hong Kong have a great fall.
无眼睇咯:
China is great, the people are rich and do not want to trouble the country, and our country does not want to bother us too.
迷失小妖:
HK, open some branches in the Mainland.
牛魔王巡山:
Let England rule over us then.
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If Britain had colonised the whole of China then everywhere would be as good as Hong Kong.
yes i agree with you!
Long live the Queen! Long live the British empire!!
i doubt it. it would be more like india.
i wanna root the queen
Hmm.. is it Hong Kong handover to Mainland special feature?
Well I do feel HK’s medical care is good compared to Mainland.
Almost everything of HK is better than the mainland – no match!
The GDP per capita is about US$40K in HK, while a pitiful US$3K in the mainland.
I bet the mainland will have almost the same, even better in some areas, if GDP per capita exceeds US$40K after another 50-80 years. Then by that time the total GDP of mainland will be over 60 trillion USD!
But of course it is not all about money. Many things matter – skilled medical staff, rule of law, morality of society, etc.
BTW, people in N.Korea and Cuba don’t have to pay anything to get medical care, but, you guess the quality of services there.
GDP per capita don’t have to do with it. The US for example have abysmal health care your company don’t get you good health insurance. (I got a taste of that when I got kicked off of my mom’s Kaiser plan, and shifted to my blue cross plan…) Cuba’s health care is actually pretty good if you get into too advanced stuff like cancer treatment or brain surgery, which most of us don’t need.
It not abysmal, just expensive. China on the other hand is just flat out abysmal, even if you pay for “good” conditions. They don’t even keep the restrooms clean in some of the hospitals I have been in in BJ. If you aren’t smart enough to know basic hygene then forget about it developing.
Tell me about it, hospitals in Beijing, the crown jewel of China, are disgusting. The toilets are an embarassment. There’s not even soap inside to use! And in one case (at what people told me was a “good” hospital) there wasn’t even WATER in the bathroom! God, if I get sick in China, please send me a holy helicopter and scoot me down to HK. Even if the helicopter ride is expensive, it will be cheaper than the stupid doctor’s bills here!
Hospitals are so bad here that if you stay overnight, a family member has to stay with you. You need your own clothes, bring your own food, make sure the doctors aren’t loading you up with the wrong drugs…terrifying
HK owns. It really should be its own country. What a shame that we must be placed in the same category as dirty mainlanders? Sigh.
Time to shy away from the ‘mainland’ and make our own site, HKsmack.
HK sucks! Really…. Most dirty Hong Kong residents have no manners and are stuck with their bloated ego-complex. I think the mainland will really have to re-educate the residents of Hong Kong to overcome their insecurity and washed out culture.
…You haven’t been to both places to compare, have you? If that’s what HK is then lots of places in the mainland would be … beyond words. I prefer HK.
How many HK residents move to China everyday? Pathetic hater.
welcome to Britain..
Thats why we have http://thedarkside.hk in HK.
Another story – when my friend in HK one day told me delightly that he got a big good apartment with 1 living room, 3 bed rooms, 2 rest rooms, 1 kitchen, and a total space about 80 suqare meters, I felt a little sorry for him deep in my heart.
I live in a 200+ square meter apartment in Shenzhen with my wife and my kid. My old parents and my grandmother live in a 360 square meter house in a small town in the mainland, with a small garden in the yard to plant vegetables and flowers. They only spent 100,000 yuan (roughly US$16K) to build that house 10 years ago, all the furnitures and home appliances included! And they have bus stop, markets, and medical center in walking distance.
You have to be a millionaire, if not a billionaire, to live in a house like that in HK.
If you limit yourself to the island/Kowloon, yes. I know someone with a house as large as you describe that he got for cheap. The secret? He lives in Fanling.
It isn;t hard becoming a millionare in HK.
The thing is, while there is more space in Mainland China, everything else sucks – health care, public transportation, car parks, police, crime, street pollution, etc etc. I’ve lived in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Hong Kong is no doubt a much better city.
I’d rather live in a place where the government respects human rights. That’s why we need democracy in China. In Cina, human rights only apply to the Rich.
I think this blogger is stupid in the first place for even comparing HK to the mainland. I wonder if she’s even Chinese.
The legacy of British governance. Proves nothing about HK itself; not much for HKers to be proud about, really. I’d say the same for Singapore except Singapore has been independent for a lot longer and owes a lot more to Lee Kuan Yew.
though same couldn’t be said of Britain’s other colonies….
Lee Kuan Yew, a forward looking leader
British ruled over India, zimbabwe too. Does india and zimbabwe became another singapore or hong kong?
There is a academic study about three former british colonies Jamaica, Hong kong, and Malta which all have similar GPD per capita at end of WW2.
When did the UK let go of those two colonies? Much earlier than they let go of HK.
zimbabwe is actually just 1980. (though it was called Rhodesia at the time) Hong Kong is very much a special case as capital of an entire nation of China flocked to that little place after 1949, particularly the shifting of finacial operation from Shanghai to Hong Kong during 1950. Though CKS would much liked that shift from Shanghai to Taipei, but TP lack the infrastructure to support it. Hong Kong got very lucky.
Zimbabwe was actually doing pretty good for a long while until Mugabe expropriated the lands.
You also make a good point. HK got the best and brightest of China. Those left on the mainland were sent to be re-educated. China was set back at least 30 years (1949-1979). Just imagine how rich/powerful China could have been if the CCP never took over. I guess we’ll figure out in the next 30 years.
not really, it’s would be mess of civil war various cliques years before. Remember the Chinese civil war is not simply nationalist vs. communist. Actually after WWII, CKS and li zongren went into a nasty power struggle with Li Zongren acutally become president of RoC. (where he had similar struggle with CKS just before WWII in 1936!!!)
The major problem of Nationalists, is that it never obtained power with a unified military force; rather it got it by defecting “enermy” generals of various different factions. And after death of Sun (whom never really run the country anyways), it lacked unified political look as well. History of RoC after 1911 is full of military coups, provinces declaring Independence(then go to war with each other etc. not that different from Afghanistan right now) All in all, the communist rule almost seemed necessary to just hold the country together. (and of course, since CKS is the only real power in TW, all his former enemies either when under house arrest seek political asylum in the US)
How China will be in the next 30 years is of course unknown, but hopefully structural flaw killed the RoC 60 years ago are gone by now; such as independent military that loyal to provincial generals rather than national government, foreign support for those said regional government, lack of economic dynamism except for a very few areas in China, political chaos between political parties and within political parties…etc.
hearing about this makes me feel sad, no not sad embarresed for the mainland. i was in beijing last year at a shopping mall with my mom i sat down on a bench inside the store and cut my leg pretty deep on a loose piece of glass. the store owners immeditely started saying it wasn’t there fault and trying to back away, my family members with me had to clean up the wound and bandage it themselves. luckily my aunt was the general manager of the mall and we got help after about 30 mins…
It is funny how Chinese people are always complaining about the expensive health care system. If every Chinese were prepared to pay some more taxes for a better health care problem would be solved. But in China nobody wants to contribute more than they have to. The result is are hospitals where you pay for a shitty service and hospitals that try to run profitable by selling you medicin and drugs that you don’t need. So much for the construction of a socialist society.
more taxes really can help the health care system, i doubt….bu i am sure it can help some of the government officer’s personal bank account.
[quote]I must study hard, work hard, bring my wife and children, and determinedly in the most crowded/busiest area of Hong Kong have a great fall[/quote]
Priceless.
Its not even about British heritage. Its more like the government is used to spending billions of dollars in the HK health system and also government policies.
HK can’t even compare to the mainland because it is a small ex-British outpost like Singapore albeit a little larger in land area.
HK is a small open economy with 7 million. If it had a billion plus residents, it will struggle to cope and take just as long to develop a universal health care system.
“HK can’t even compare to the mainland because it is a small ex-British outpost like Singapore albeit a little larger in land area.”
Singapore was part of the malaya fedaration under british rule untill malaysia indepedence in 1963. And yes singapore was a only a state of malaysia unitl her indepedence in 1965.
The combine land area of the british territories in south-east asia is even larger than Great Britian.
I wonder wat a ‘big’ british outpost would be?
I wonder wat a ‘big’ british outpost would be?
America?
Erm, british colonies in america was only the eastern coast state/cities.
But then there were australia, india…
It wasnt call the british empire for nothing.
Canada too if by America we are talking about the Americas.
It may be the other way around now. The UK is part of the USA’s empire…aka NATO.
And here was me thinking that the UK was part of the new Roman Empire, albeit this time ruled by Brussels (EU Parliament) and Germany (European bank)…..
I wonder what would Hong Kong and Shanghai be today had it not been for the foreign influence of the British. They were both little s**t holes before the English arrived and built them up (with Chinese labor).
It shows that with British management and Chinese labor wonders can be created in China.
Bring back the British!!
Yeah!!! I say we return Shanghai and HK to England!!! Long live the queen. BTW, I have watched someone die in Chinese hospital while the nurses all stood around and watched. I have also seen piss and vomit in a hospital being cleaned with water and a mob sloshing back and forth in the same pail.
However, in Shanghai, now the cheng guang is busy closing down anhui dan bing shops and making foreigners take piss tests outside clubs…. priorities
Piss tests outside of clubs for foreigners? That’s interesting, Tokyo’s doing the same !
Really? Why? Now that’s weird.
in tokyo u wouldnt even be allowed in in the first place
I haven’t heard about this. what’s going on?
Yeup, I know a couple of guys who got pee pee tested. HE said guys who failed got sent home. Welcome to shanghai expo
Yea, mainland health care f$%king blows. Had to go twice on separate trips to Shanghai and both times the hospitals are nothing more than dirty piss poor excuses for place to heal people.
1. Cracked a bone in my ankle and the doc there tried to get me to have surgery and get into a cast. Went back stateside and my doc at Northwestern told me it was nothing and just walk it off.
2. Got knifed in front of a hospital and went to the ER; took the staff 15 minutes to respond and than they would not even touch me until my cousin went to pay couple thousand yuan down payment. Mind you, I am bleeding all over the floor profusely from a severed artery on the back of neck. Lost an extra pint of blood thanks to those f$%kers.
And both of these places were suppose to be the best they had in Shanghai and by extension mainland China.
Let me get this straight, you were bleeding “profusely” from an artery no less for 15 minutes and you’re not dead?
Agreed, severed artery on the back of the neck = buddy is full of shit. Probably got scratched by an angry pedicab driver when he refused to pay the full 17 rmb and lost it when the emergency room refused to push him to the front of the line.
I said artery, not the aorta. It was one at the base of the skull on the back left side of my neck. Profusely=it would not stop bleeding, not massive hemorrhaging. Lost a total of 2 pints.
And no it wasn’t a cabbie. My cousin’s idiot friend fought some punk from Hunan and apparently he called some people to jump him with knifes when he got out of the hospital at 3 in the morning. Me and my cousin just happens to be there checking up on him. I took two slashes to the head, my cousin had 2 in the back, and his friend got stabbed 11 times.
were you getting rich or die trying?
No, I was just drunk.
whoever posted this comment :
“Too many mainlanders, hence the low worth.”
Pretty much summed up the cause of 90% of China’s problems, really.
I also had an amazing medical care experience in Hong Kong. I was feeling a bit queesy (maybe a light case of food poisoning) and decided to visit the local hospital for some meds. Three nurses attended me at the same time — it was incredible! One took my temperature, one took my blood pressure, one made me sign something — and just like that, the procedure was done. I was in the doctor’s office five minutes later and out in another five. Waited ten minutes and got my meds. Out of there in well under an hour. That doesn’t even happen in the US!
Hong Kong = niu bi when it comes to efficiency. Even in shopping malls and restaurants. God bless them *sigh*
This one is about the poor condition of mainland hospitals, the government’s scare theater when it comes to “Worldwide Pandemics” and the hypocrisy when valuing lives e.g. coalminers.
Here’s one fresh off the press. China’s first confirmed death from H1N1 is by accident!
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1487251.php/China_reports_"accidental"_death_of_swine_flu_patient_
In one accident in Shanxi 11 coal miners are dead last month
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/23/content_11584429.htm
Why doesn’t the government put this much effort and propaganda into fixing the dismal safety standards of China’s coal mines, not to mention the pay for care system of the hospitals.
On a personal note, went out in Beijing to do some filming, and we had planned to go to 协和医院 to do a quick piece. Right as we got there a lady was passed out right in front of the gates with husband and child helpless with lots of on-lookers, myself included.
This being the best hospital in Beijing, and you have to have guanxi just to get in the front door.
Should have gone to medical school if I were a little smarter
The h1n1 “death” died on her toilet after being released because she was in recovery for some time with symptoms gone, she probably had a heart condition or something and overexerted herself trying to push out a massive oil-caked shit from all the greasy food. If you look at most deaths due to h1n1 throughout the world, it’s people who have underlying issues like asthma or other problems that combine to create a deadly combination, in fact, many other influenza strains kill much more vigilantly than h1n1, it’s just the one causing a media frenzy…look up stats on influenza deaths in US in 2006, for example..what is it, like 60,000 people?
Agreed. All nurse and doctor friends I know bitch about how people freak out H1N1 even though it is less deadly than the average flu.
Look maybe the British colonies (maybe just HK) have a great health system but London definately doesn’t. I was in ER at one of better London hospitals for 2.5hrs (the limit of their current health target) with a broken foot before a nurse even directed me to the x-ray room… the whole thing took 5hrs. Compare that to Shanghai, most public (and private) hospitals will take care of that in less than half the time despite having 10x as many patients.
So yes HK is a blessed bunch but they’re up there among the top in the world.
state hospitals in china are better than state hospitals in the UK? Ha ha, what comedy!
Private hospital in China is better then hospital in the UK (Mostly state own due to NHS) I was in the UK ER for stomach pain, took them 1.5 hour of waiting before I get to see the nurse. Another 30 minutes before the doctor do a examination to make sure it wasnt serious. During the whole time I was scared that I have appendixtitus.
This is why if you can pay for it, you get good treatment, this is also why (off topic) China’s neo-left movement is very popular.
at least they r better that the uk. medicare is a joke
Chinese system vs British HK, the British is better in every way!
what, the guys who’s medicare system is pretty much crippled at the moment?
The only thing crippled is your knowledge of the NHS, which is not Medicare, you swivel-eyed tool.
Quality healthcare, free to all at point of use. Any minor problems in funding or delivery pale beside that basic fact.
not what all the swivel-eyed poms who come here say. quit leeching off our health/welfare system u goddamn english swine
Also the reason why ER in London sometimes comes with waiting time is because the wards and doctors are too busy with “health tourists” and parasites (not refering to foreigners as a whole) from other countries that clog up the whole system.
this’s just disgusting
what are u talking about u dumb woman, all foreigners are parasites britain for brits. congratulations on BNP victory. its a step in the right direction.
Shit troll is shit.
sarcastically challenged much?
“health tourists” in ER?! I think that “health tourists” goes in hospitals not in ER, but, one can never know…
HK has socialised medicine, which is equitable. China has private medicine, which delivers better care to those who can pay. HK retains some civic values from its British heritage and the traditional Chinese that was never subject to ‘class struggle’. The mainland only pays lip service to civic values such as helping strangers and the sick.
The reason why HK has a socialised medicine and mainland China not, is that in HK there was the socialist revolution while mainland China was under heavy influence of the capitalist west… wait, what?
I believe that health care is an indicator of the entire system in mainland China. As Michael said, “The mainland only pays lip service to civic values such as helping strangers and the sick.” Completely true.
On the other hand, in the west, it’s the same, but we just can’t see it so well. Just think about the different between your life, and a billionaire’s life. The billionaire’s life is full of fantasy, women, travel, divorce, best-of-everything. He doesn’t watch out for anybody but himself, and he actively said to himself, “f*#@k society.” Let them have “free” health care, and I’ll have my private jet, private hospital in Switzerland, private island in SE asia.
Just like in China, the elite keeps you happy enough that you won’t revolt, but poor enough that you keep aspiring to be him…and in the process give him lots of money. Do you think you can go to his hospital? No way. Think you can go to his resort? No way.
So your point, basically, is that some stuff is expensive and somehow that’s wrong?
I’m more along the lines of trying to dispel this idea that the West has a more “civil” ethic. Most people are just lulled into the idea that we’re more civil, while the sharks rise to a different plane by being uncivil. You know, those guys who run their banks into the ground and still get a bonus.
“Bring back the British!”
And let them take all the credit? Prove that the Chinese are an inferior race?
Heh. I’d think that a nation’s dignity should matter, but these days in China, who knows?
It’s not about race, its about managment, organization and ideology.
Not the Chinese people as a whole, but the current government? Yes.
Chinese government for the last 60 years. But they have improved.
The best health-care systems in the world are usually the most costly (for the government). France, Germany, Finland and Ireland.
haha look at what the british did to burma, india, australian aborigines and native canadians
NOTHING… but killing
I cant imagine a fool believing in the trash of the british empire. Western leaders only care about themselves… same as chinese leaders.
same rubbish
In Australia, the medicare is FREE… but you must wait up to 3 days to see a doctor
So would YOU trust your life to a public hospital in China?
well, being the most populous country in the world means that he medicare is not as bad as some think…
Sad but the truth, even in the states if you have no medical insurance you will end up in the same situation ;p
台湾人看大陆太不民主；
香港人看大陆太没法治；
澳门人看大陆太没赌品；
北京人看大陆太基层了；
上海人看大陆太乡下了；
广东人看大陆太贫穷了；
山东人看大陆太不仗义；
山西人看大陆太干净了；
四川人看大陆太缺小姐；
陕西人看大陆太没文化；
黑龙江人看大陆太热了；
海南人看大陆太寒冷了；
内蒙古人看大陆太拥挤；
新疆人看大陆太文气了；
西藏人看大陆太没信仰！
日本人看大陆，自愿但不自尊（慰安妇）；
美国人（加拿大人、澳大利亚人）看大陆，移民倾向太重（邓文迪），甚至为了在异国他乡从事性服务业，假冒遭中共政治迫害、宗教迫害！（这些人我称之为大陆母猪）。
非洲人（北韩人）看大陆，是亲人啊！（他们太单纯太天真）
——摘自《何健语录》，欢迎转载，谢谢支持！
“Yeah!!! I say we return Shanghai and HK to England!!! Long live the queen. ”
Fuck UK and British !!!! want to know what they did to India ?
Watch award-winning documentary film “Lakshmi and me”, then you know what Britain left for India and what China would be like if China had been colonized by Britain.
and Indian billionaires and millionaires have move hundreds of billions of dollars into UK banks. The money couldve been used to improve the lives of poor people in India.
“Chinese system vs British HK, the British is better in every way!”
Sophie,
Do chinese a favor, watch film “Lakshmi and me” before talking about the system in China.
And then realize that this is apples and oranges because while India could become independent, HK had no such choice.
When there is law and order, and relatively corruption free, Chinese people will thrive, Hong Kong and Singapore are good example. It has nothing to do with the British empire, India and many African countries are example.
Jackie Chan was right when he said Chinese people needed to be controlled. Right now what is and has been killing China for centuries is corruption.
Jeez, just spend one day in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai and you can clearly see the difference. Hongkies are all civilized and polite and pleasant and helpful, lining up in proper queues and waiting for their turn and not walking against the light. Shanghos are savages, spitting, burping, farting, pushing, shoving, running to get metro seats before that poor a-yi can sit down and shouting into their cellphones in public to show just what bigshots they are.
Medical care in HK vs Mainland is like this. Do you go to a real doctor who treats real people, or some brat with a toy stethoscope who bought his degree?
I was born and growth in Hong Kong. I don’t totally agree with these comments.
1. If you don’t have $100 dollars, we will still save you. Because if you are poor, social worker will help you to fill a form and government will pay for you.
2. You are classified by 2nd priority because you are not seriously hurt. Seriously hurt means you are going to die. If you are not going to die, you should be serious hurt.
When I get a fever at 103F, I was classified as 3rd priority. Usually the case with bleeding is classified as 2nd priority.
3. It should charge $100 because too many mainland chinese people come to Hong Kong and see doctors. In fact, I suggest to fully charge those Mainland people using Hong Kong facilities. In Hong Kong, there is around 500 Mainland people come to have their children born in Hong Kong, and then say “I don’t have money”. Then we can do nothing. (Of course, some people may pay around $20000HKD according to current policy.)
Is HK’s welfare system better than China’s? ****ing hell, take a look at this video and tell me if the police in HK would do sh1t like this?!
http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/police-criticized-bloody-nanjing-drunk-driving-accident/#comment-28513
I have to admit, even as a person born in the mainland, the public hospitals in the mainland are pretty @#%#$, the doctors and nurses talk to you like you’re scum and it’s all about money money money. In New Zealand public hospitals are FREE. (You just have to wait a few hours if it’s minor) And the nurses and doctors actually treat you like human beings, there’s automony. I remember my grandma almost cried as she was touched because a nurse knelt down to put on her socks for her- because according to her something like that would never happen in the mainland- in a public hospital. China still has a long way to go. In New Zealand, a right to hospital care and life is a right. In China it’s a right, only if you have money.
How much tax do you pay in China?
I earn what a good salary for a 30-something university-grad professional at a big company in HK (More than a secretary, less than a banker!)
This year, I will pay HK $80,000+ in income tax. Every year, I pay HK $12,000 in stamp duty (property tax). And when we bought our flat last year, we paid $200,000 to the government.
Do I use HK $100,000 a year in public services? No way! I have no kids. I don’t use public hospitals because I have private coverage. But I’m happy to pay tax because that it’s what makes universal coverage possible. If we want our poor and elderly to be treated well, people like me have to pay.
What kills me if when mainlanders (particularly pregnant women giving birth) “sneak” down here on tourist visas, use the hospitals illegally and then flee without paying the bills. If you don’t pay HK taxes and aren’t HK residents, don’t scam our services!
Love it how mainlanders always make excuses for their country being a shit hole, instead of admitting its a shit hole and doing something about it like HK people.
People get what they deserve. Chinese people have chosen not only to support but to LOVE a corrupt “gangster” government (see pre-olympic MAINLANDERS protesting all over the world to support the communist party when there were a few anti-chinese-government protests by non-chinese people). Chinese DESERVE to have a shit system, if you critisize the government the first people to attack you will be normal everyday mainland chinese.
When mainlanders take responsibilty for their own future then and ONLY then will they deserve a better system.