One hospital, three doors: putong, texu, guoji
The same senior surgeon can see you for ¥50 or ¥1,500 in the same building. How the three service tracks of a Chinese public hospital differ.
Here is the single most useful thing to know about big Chinese public hospitals: one hospital is really three hospitals in the same building. Which door you walk through changes the price, the queue, and the language — but usually not the doctors.
The three tracks
1. Putong (普通部) — the regular clinic. This is where most of China gets its healthcare. Prices are government-regulated and posted on the wall. A registration/consultation fee is typically somewhere between ¥10 and ¥100 depending on the city and the doctor's seniority. It is extremely cheap by Western standards, and extremely crowded. Everything runs in Chinese, visits are short, and popular specialists' slots can be gone within minutes of release.
2. Texu (特需部) — the VIP clinic. Same hospital, same senior doctors, market-adjusted pricing — consultations typically in the a few-hundred-yuan range. You get a longer appointment, a calmer floor, and the ability to actually choose your doctor. Many Chinese patients use texu when they want a specific expert without the scramble.
3. Guoji (国际部) — the international department. English-speaking staff, appointment-based scheduling, private rooms, and consultation fees typically upwards of ¥1,000. This is also where direct billing with international insurers usually happens — if your insurance covers China, this is the door where your card works. See paying for care.
The part nobody tells you
The doctors overlap. Senior specialists usually hold sessions across tracks — a chief physician might do a packed putong clinic on Tuesday morning and see international patients on Thursday. When you pay 20× more at the international department, you are mostly buying time, language, comfort, and coordination — not a different standard of medicine. That is a fair trade, but it should be an informed one.
A comparison at a glance
| Putong 普通 | Texu 特需 | Guoji 国际 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultation fee | ~¥10–100 | ~¥300–800 | ¥1,000+ |
| Language | Chinese | Chinese (some English) | English service |
| Booking | App/WeChat, fierce competition | App or phone | Email/phone appointment |
| Insurance | Pay first, claim later | Pay first, claim later | Often direct billing |
| Choose your doctor | Hard | Yes | Yes |
| Same senior doctors? | Yes | Yes | Mostly yes |
The accreditation nuance
If a hospital advertises JCI accreditation (the international hospital standard), check the scope. At several of China's most famous hospitals — Peking Union, Huashan, Zhongshan among them — the accreditation covers only the international/VIP unit, not the regular wards. Our hospital database tags every JCI hospital as WHOLE HOSPITAL or INTL DEPT ONLY, because the difference matters to what you are actually buying.
Practical notes
- Bring your passport — it is required for registration at all three doors.
- Public hospitals work on pay-as-you-go (pay before each test/treatment) in outpatient care, and a deposit (押金) on admission.
- The regular clinic is not closed to foreigners. If you read some Chinese or bring a translator, putong at a top hospital is the single best healthcare bargain on earth. The trade is your time and comfort.
- For complex plans (surgery quotes, admission), the international department can coordinate across departments — that coordination is often worth the markup even if you use putong for routine visits.
Sources & verification status
- Service-track structure and doctor overlap: common knowledge among Chinese patients and hospital websites; specific fee schedules are posted per hospital.
- JCI scope tags: China Medical Index hospital database, compiled from accreditation listings; official JCI directory re-verification in progress.