How Foreign Visitors Can See a Doctor and Use Emergency Care in China
Call 120 for a life-threatening emergency. For non-emergency care, choose a hospital and department based on your condition, bring your passport, medical history, medicines, payment and insurance documents, and keep complete medical records.
What Counts as an Emergency
For difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, severe chest pain, heavy bleeding, seizures, serious injury, or any other potentially life-threatening condition, call 120 immediately or go to the nearest hospital with an emergency department. Do not delay care while looking for a facility with better English-language services. Once the patient is stable, or when specialist assessment or a prescription refill is needed, arrange an outpatient visit and confirm the hospital, campus, and department.
Life-threatening condition or unable to move safely: 120.
Acute condition but safe to travel: go to a hospital emergency department and confirm the campus before leaving.
Non-emergency or chronic condition: make an appointment with the appropriate outpatient department.
Foreign-language assistance needed: look for an international medical department or a facility that offers services in other languages.
Mental health crisis or poisoning: also describe safety at the scene, the substance involved, and the patient’s condition.
Public Hospitals, International Medical Departments, and Private Facilities
Large public hospitals offer a broad range of specialties, but they see many patients. The usual process includes registration, triage, a consultation, tests, payment, and collecting medicines, and foreign-language support varies. Some public hospitals have international medical departments where appointments and language assistance may be easier, but fees may follow a different schedule. Private or international medical facilities generally offer more foreign-language support, but check their specialist capabilities, emergency services, charges, and insurance network separately.
Hospitals with the same name may have several campuses, and the emergency department and the specialty you need may not be at the same address. Cross-check map results, your insurance network, and the hospital’s official website. The Beijing government’s guide to medical care for foreign nationals lists local facilities offering foreign-language services; a city-specific list should not be treated as a nationwide recommendation.
Prepare a Medical Summary to Carry with You
A valid passport and a telephone number where you can be reached in China.
Main symptoms, when they began, how they have changed, and what treatment has already been tried.
Allergies, chronic conditions, surgical history, pregnancy status, and an emergency contact.
Generic names, doses, and frequency of current medicines, plus the original packaging.
Previous test results, scans, prescriptions, and vaccination records.
A usable bank card, mobile payment method, or cash, as well as your insurance card and policy number.
Telephone numbers for emergency insurance assistance and preauthorization.
What to Say When Calling 120
Give the city, the address in Chinese, and the floor or entrance. Then state the number and ages of the patients, the main symptoms, whether they are conscious, and whether they can breathe. Ask a Chinese speaker to help if one is available, but do not delay the call while waiting for an interpreter. Follow the dispatcher’s instructions for any first aid you can safely provide, and have someone wait at the building entrance to guide the emergency team.
Call 120 and give the exact location.
Describe the most dangerous symptom and when it began.
Report the patient’s consciousness, breathing, and bleeding.
Mention known allergies, serious conditions, or pregnancy.
Keep the line open and prepare the passport, medicines, and payment.
Send one person to meet the ambulance at the entrance while others keep the scene safe.
What to Expect at a Routine Outpatient Visit
Use the hospital’s official website or app, its telephone service, or a city appointment platform to confirm the department and appointment availability. At the hospital, use your passport to create a patient record, then complete registration and triage. After the doctor orders tests or medicines, you may have to pay before going to another floor for the service, then return for a follow-up consultation when the results are ready. Before leaving each desk, confirm where to go next, whether you need a new queue number, and the likely waiting time.
Keep your name and passport number consistent across registration, tests, prescriptions, and invoices.
Photograph the department name, consulting room, and payment slip so you can find your way around a large hospital campus.
Before a test, confirm any fasting, medication, or other preparation requirements.
When collecting medicines, check the name, dose, frequency, duration, and storage conditions.
Before leaving, request your medical record, test results, itemized charges, and invoice.
Payment and Direct Billing
Many facilities collect separate payments for registration, tests, treatment, and medicines. Even with commercial insurance, you may avoid paying upfront only if the hospital has a valid direct-billing arrangement with the insurer and the condition and services have been approved. The Beijing government guide notes that direct billing usually requires verification of an insurance card and passport; confirm the current partner list with both the hospital and the insurer.
In an emergency, do not let insurance preauthorization delay life-saving treatment. Contact the insurer as soon as the patient is stable, and record the case number, the scope of authorization, and the required documents. If direct billing is unavailable, be prepared to pay and retain official invoices, itemized charges, medical records, prescriptions, and test results. A salesperson’s verbal promise of “full reimbursement” does not override the terms of the policy.
Differences in Language, Medicines, and Follow-up Care
Brand names for medicines may be completely different from one country to another, so generic names and original packaging are more reliable. Machine translation should not be used alone for allergies, dosages, or surgical consent. Break important information into short sentences and ask the doctor or interpreter to repeat it back for confirmation. If you need long-term medication, cold-chain medicines, psychiatric medicines, or other controlled drugs, check prescription, carriage, and local availability requirements before travel.
Foreign-language service is a city- and facility-level capability, and nighttime emergency coverage may differ from a daytime international clinic. Before returning home, transferring hospitals, or attending follow-up care in another city, organize the diagnosis, scans, and medicines into a record that can be given to the next doctor; do not keep only payment screenshots.
Official Sources and Verification Date
Information on the 120 medical emergency service and choosing a hospital is based on the Beijing government’s guide to medical care for foreign nationals and published emergency-service information, verified through 2026-8-4. Hospital lists, campuses, departments, foreign-language services, payment methods, and insurance networks change quickly. Before setting out, obtain written confirmation from the destination city government, the hospital’s official website, and the insurer. This is a practical guide and does not replace a doctor’s diagnosis or individual medical advice.