Chapter 985: Medical Disparity

The fellow villager's words seemed to stir Lao Jieke's memories.

Once, after having a persistent low-grade fever for many days with no effect from medicine, he went to the hospital.

The hospital said, your condition cannot be registered for emergency; if you insist on emergency registration, you need both your family doctor and insurance Manager to agree, otherwise your fees may have to be paid out of pocket.

Fortunately his family doctor and insurance Manager were decent, allowing him to get emergency registration.

The test results showed chronic pneumonia; thanks to timely treatment, otherwise it could have endangered his life.

If he really followed the hospital's advice and registered for a regular appointment, he might wait until death before his turn.

On this point, Yingjiang indeed did not do well; how can the hospital be so sluggish? This is a matter of life.

Moreover, his low fever dragging into pneumonia might also be because he followed the family doctor's nonsense advice to drink more hot water.

And then it dragged on to this state.

So he really dared not rebut the other's words.

"Don't they need to make an appointment?"

"You must know doctors are limited while patients are countless; without appointments, how can they reasonably schedule work?"

"I really can't think of any other way!"

The surrounding travelers realized, he had truly bumped into a country bumpkin.

They not only didn't despise him, but enthusiastically gave him popular science explanations.

"They have community hospitals that specialize in treating minor ailments like colds, fevers, and diarrhea."

"They also have specialty hospitals that treat various professional diseases, such as heart disease and other five-organ illnesses. For example, circulatory and immune diseases plus neurological diseases. For example, they have professional cancer hospitals that employ both Chinese and Western medicine."

"Finally there are comprehensive hospitals, which mainly treat multi-system coordinated diseases and injuries."

"Inside gather top-level experts from all fields."

"If you feel unwell, go to a community hospital; if the doctor can't cure you or can't find the cause, they will refer you to the appropriate specialty hospital—for example, if you have a stomachache, they will send you to the gastroenterology specialty."

"If they can't find the problem here, you will be sent to a comprehensive hospital."

"Of course you can also skip the community hospital and go directly to a specialty hospital for consultation."

"Their consultations require no appointment, only registration; then most can see an outpatient doctor the same day, determine the cause, and obtain a treatment plan."

"For serious cases they will directly admit you to the hospital."

"However I don't recommend going to the outpatient clinic, because with a community hospital's condition note you can find the inpatient ward's on‑call doctor and start examination and treatment directly."

"Comprehensive hospitals do not accept consultations; they only accept difficult and complicated cases referred from other specialty hospitals."

"They need no appointments because they have a simple and efficient medical service system."

"Everyone can obtain efficient medical service."

"Even though patient numbers increase by tens of millions each year, they remain orderly."

"Even if they become overwhelmed, they can still refer patients to hospitals nationwide in Daxia."

"They have the entire Daxia medical system as their backing."

After hearing the other's words, Lao Jieke still didn't quite believe it; they sounded too divine.

Top‑tier medical resources are scarce wherever they are; they could serve the rich and earn more money—how could they possibly serve ordinary people and still take on unnecessary trouble?

"Do they really have that many doctors? Training a single doctor requires enormous resources."

"How could they possibly have so many medical experts?"

"I know how hard it is to train a doctor."

Doctors are a top‑tier profession everywhere; in Yingjiang training a qualified doctor costs over one million US dollars, and training a medical specialist requires tens of millions.

Therefore in the West, doctors are representatives of the wealthy; even just this dentist belongs to the high‑income group.

A person who had enjoyed Qiongzhou's medical services clapped his hands.

"Hey, buddy, you need to understand that Daxia has 1.6 billion people."

"Their need for doctors is also an astronomical figure."

"Applying Yingjiang's doctor‑training cost to Daxia is inappropriate."

"You should know that most of their hospitals are public; tuition is only a few thousand Daxia dollars per year, equivalent to about a thousand of ours."

"In our place, however, it requires thirty‑to‑forty thousand US dollars."

"The gap is dozens of times."

"Moreover, the training of their Chinese medicine doctors is also not quite like ours."

"They emphasize apprenticeship."

"That is to say, most of their Chinese medicine doctors accept part of their apprentices from schools, and they also seek out talented individuals to train themselves."

"Those taken in by the school teach most of the skills."

"The apprentices they find themselves are called robe‑and‑bowl inheritors, who teach the secret techniques."

"In the past, robe‑and‑bowl inheritors were few, and moreover most passed the knowledge only to their own bloodline."

"Now, because of the Chinese Medicine Hospital Association, they must each year train a certain number of directly transmitted disciples."

"Otherwise they cannot obtain a share of the top‑grade medicinal herbs."

"In treating disease with Chinese medicine, the demand for top‑grade medicinal materials is high."

"Without the top‑grade medicinal materials supplied by the Chinese Medicine Association, even if you have great ability, you can only be considered a second‑rate doctor."

"I'm telling you all this, but you wouldn't understand; just remember that Daxia doesn't lack doctors."

"Moreover, Qiongzhou has now changed its strategy: annual medical expenditures are allocated according to a fixed fiscal proportion and are tied to medical insurance funds."

"When residents are healthy and fall ill less, they earn more money; when they are unhealthy and often sick, wages drop and even the average score is lowered."

"In Qiongzhou I often see community doctors leading residents in square‑dance exercises."

"The health index of Qiongzhou residents has clearly risen."

Every office building must be equipped with a health doctor to guide them in balancing work and rest.

In the past, business receptions in Qiongzhou were mostly drinking and singing; now many have turned into tea drinking and foot massage.

You haven't been there, you don't understand—it's a civilized world, one truly considerate of ordinary people.

They say we are a commercial society, which is quite true; we need money for everything we do, but they value feelings; even without money, they are happy just skewering food together. They are the beacon of humanity.

Of course, many people might go there and feel uncomfortable.

Because there, they don't allow smoking marijuana, nor pornography, gambling, and drugs, let alone hooliganism.

You might find it unstimulating, but remember, the essence of life is ordinariness.

It's not about climbing the body, let alone naked climbing and later misbehavior.

I like the atmosphere there; only there can I feel the beauty of life.