Visit to Beijing Shijitan Hospital!!

Today we had our last hospital visit. This time it was to Beijing Shijitan Hospital. It was a very interesting tour. We began with a short introduction presentation from the hospital director about the hospital. It was interesting to learn the history of the hospital. It began as a health care facility that was strictly for the workers of the Chinese Railway system and their families and slowly evolved into a more extensive hospital. It was then brought under control of the Beijing local government and it now serves as a public hospital in Beijing.

The hospital director and a doctor at Shijitan Hospital giving and introduction about the hospital

It was interesting to also learn a little bit about the hospital health care system in China. The director told us that most (about 95%) of the hospitals in China are public and funded and supported by the Chinese government. Also, every hospital in China is required to have a full TCM department within the hospital. Shijitan Hospital focuses mostly on western medicine, yet it still has a full TCM department and pharmacy.

After the discussion we took a tour of the hospital. We saw some of the modern facilities and departments and also the TCM departments within the hospital. We also took a tour of the TCM pharmacy and saw the pharmacists preparing TCM prescriptions. Some of us even tried some herbal medicine. The pharmacist gave us a very bitter herb. It was the most bitter thing I have ever tasted. The taste stayed in my mouth for hours! This was a really neat tour and very interesting to see yet another hospital in Beijing and also learn more about the Chinese hospital system.

The group with a nurse and the director of the hospital at a nurses station on our tour

Zai jian!