Eric's Beijing Diary

Took a trip to the pharmacy at Beijing United Hospital this morning. I have been fighting an ear infection off and on since April, and I am more and more convinced that I have developed a fungus infection because it does not seem to be responding to antibiotics.

Going to Beijing United Hospital is out of the question, because I don't have an expat benefits package, and those guys charge American prices. But I have visited the pharmacy, because the pharmacists are nice people and generally bilingual. Usually they will not sell me what I am looking for (which is good, because I would probably be paying American prices for that, too), because they tell me that I have to see a doctor first, which, again, is out of the question. But the pharmacist I spoke with today did me an additional favor. She told me about the international clinic at Peking Union Medical College. I had not heard of this before--don't know, it might have been set up for the Olympics--but she said the prices there would be more manageable for me. I decided to give it a try. The doctor's fee was 200 RMB, which is expensive for China, but reasonable, I think, for a top flight ENT specialist who speaks excellent English.