Medical Guide for Foreigners in Guangzhou

Guangzhou has a well-developed health care network, with general and specialized hospitals in every administrative district of the city. Foreign nationals can go to the hospital by themselves. Those who cannot may call the emergency number 120 or the number of a designated hospital for an ambulance to take them to a nearby hospital. This service is payable; the fee usually ranges from RMB one hundred to several hundreds, depending on the distance and medication used.

Hospitals offer various types of appointment services (e.g. through Guangzhou Health Link app, hospitals' official websites, WeChat public account, telephone hotline 12320 etc.). Patients can also go to the outpatient clinic to register on their own. The procedure to see a doctor is: registration and triage — waiting for your turn — doctor's consultation — fee payment, and then examination/test (if needed; some examinations need to be booked separately) — prescribing directly or prescribing after having examination/test results — fee payment — collecting medicine.

Those who are bitten or scratched by animals (dogs, cats, rats, etc.) should visit the nearest medical institution immediately to clean and treat the wounds, and then go to the Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital (Dongfeng Area or Jiahe Area, 24-hour service) for rabies vaccination, or a nearby designated rabies vaccination site for vaccination. Those who are diagnosed with a statutory infectious disease or suspected infectious disease by a medical institution shall cooperate with medical and health institutions for examination, isolation, epidemiological investigation and other measures, and be transferred to a designated medical institution for treatment in accordance with relevant regulations.

For children born or living in Guangzhou, their parents or guardians shall take them to the inoculation site in their place of residence (the health service center of the street (town)) to receive vaccination and obtain an inoculation certificate according to the prescribed immunization procedure and time. Children who have not completed the required immunizations due to migration, long-term traveling or living in other places may continue the required vaccinations at the inoculation site in their new places of residence by presenting their inoculation certificates. Guardians shall keep the inoculation certificates for checking if the children are enrolled in daycare or school.

For health questions, call the Guangzhou Health Hotline 12320 for advice. If you need services in English, Japanese or Korean, you can call the Guangzhou multilingual public service platform at 960169, an interpreter will connect you to 12320 for a three way call to answer your questions.