I want to get my teeth cleaned and this requires a visit to the Stomatological Hospital on my road (because I don’t want to pay large dental bills at a foreign hospital). The first thing they need to do even before I can make an appointment is to have a blood test.
I can’t see the logic and wasn’t terribly happy to have to have to pay £15 for what I consider to be a pointless test. 
I also had to pay £2.50 to see the dentist though I’m not sure why because all he said was that I needed to have a blood test before he could see me.
Those of you who have lived in China will reminisce with fondness, the queuing up in a line of others with rolled up sleeves, sticking your arm through what can only be described as a ‘hole in the wall’.
They wrap a rubber tube tightly above your elbow and then jab a needle in and fill a couple of vials with the red stuff.
At least this conveyor belt approach to patient processing is quick and you can see them putting the blood in the testing machine straight away.
There’s no messing about in Chinese hospitals, no time for gentle care and attention. You go in, give them your registration card (one for each hospital you visit), pay some money to see a specialist and then pay more money for whatever tests he requires. 
There’s no time to build up a relationship with the doctor – you’re in and out in a flash. It’s like factory work.
Unfortunately I’m becoming an expert at local hospitals.