July 12th, 2010 Health Care in China - Jenny

Health Care in China

When you see a procession of dead pigs floating down the river, don't eat the pork! While we were in Yangshuo, cholera broke out in the pig population.

• Infant mortality 25/1000 live births (U.S. is 6/1000)
• Health care as a percentage of GDP: 5.5%
• 2.4 hospital beds per 1000 persons
• 2005 brought about the 5-year “New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System” to give access to the large rural population. 80% of local care is covered, 60% of county care, and 30% of modern large-institution care is covered.
• Hu Jintao's “blueprint for healthcare” asserts that Universal Health Care will exist in China by 2020.
• China is beginning to move away from using organs from executed prisoners for transplantation. Currently, 65% of donations are from prisoners. 92% of donors in general are from DCD, 6.5% from living donors, and a mere 0.8% from brain-dead donors.
• Hepatitis B is endemic, in approximately 10% of the population
• Other diseases are TB, and an increase in HIV, tobacco-related, and dietary-related diseases. Tobacco is a government monopoly. The average Chinese person now consumes 2,900 kcal a day.
• China executes more people than in any other country. Some protesters are placed in psychiatric inpatient units, drugged and treated despite lack of diagnosis of mental illness.
• Huge increases in pneumoconiosis and silicosis (from coal and mineral/metal dust), lead poisoning of children, and milk tainted with melamine are examples of poor regulation of industry and the human toll.

True story: Rural China is NOT where you want to be if you end up with a febrile illness. We met a Kiwi named Dee at Tripper's in Yangshuo who was traveling alone. She had come down with a high fever and abdominal cramping. She went to the local “hospital” where they immediately put her on a 24-hour drip of antibiotics. Once her insurance approved the care, the hospital wanted to keep her for 1-2 more weeks. She said the place was filthy, including but not limited to the mold on her pillow case. She finally got transport to another hospital in Guilin, but with no diagnosis and a respiratory infection to boot, most likely nosocomial. Dee did start feeling better and headed back to New Zealand to recover fully. Quite a scary experience.