Desperate Chinese Seek Medical Care Abroad

choi

=======================Intended for Publication on Sept 8

Fanfan Wang, 赴海外就医成为更多中国人的选择. 华尔街日报中文版, Sept 8, 2014
cn.wsj.com/gb/20140908/bch185406.asp


, which is translated from

Fanfan WANG, Desperate Chinese Seek Medical Care Abroad. Wall Street Journal, Sept 6, 2014.
online.wsj.com/articles/desperate-chinese-seek-medical-care-abroad-1409959941

Quote:

(a) "When Lin Tao was diagnosed with a lethal spinal tumor in 2012, doctors in Hangzhou told him he had one option in China—surgery that would replace two sections of his vertebrae and might leave him paralyzed. Mr Lin and his wife pursued a second option. The couple flew to San Francisco and paid $70,000 out of pocket at UCSF Medical Center, where doctors recommended that Mr Lin try radiation therapy rather than surgery. Now, his family says his tumor is gone and he can still walk. [a flashback to his experience in China:] Mr. Lin, a businessman, and his wife, Zhu Yuguang, said they waited five hours to spend five minutes with a doctor, who suggested a surgery that might have cost them hundreds of thousands of yuan. * * * Mr Lin and his wife said they ended up spending another $50,000 on such costs [plane tickets, lodging etc] in connection with their [first] trip [to San Francisco].
(b) “The Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn, said the number of ts patients from China has more than doubled over the past year. It now has a Web page in Chinese and has put interpreters on staff. [Both UCSF Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital say the same.]

(c) “Another patient, who asked to be identified only by her last name, Wang, came to the U.S. after 2½ years of treatment for lung cancer in a top-grade Beijing hospital and in her hometown, Jinan, in Shandong province, at a cost of 200,000 yuan. Running out of options in China as her cancer spread, the 49-year-old Ms. Wang went to Massachusetts General Hospital in July through the services of Saint Lucia.
“Her US treatment, including radiation and chemotherapy, has so far cost her $270,000. Ms. Wang and her husband, both government employees, have used up their savings and sold an apartment, and are now looking at borrowing money.
"’I am grateful to my doctors. But I never expected the medical care in the US to be so expensive,’ she said. It was too soon to say whether her treatment was effective.

Note:
(a) “Cai Qiang, CEO of Saint Lucia, a Beijing-based consultancy on overseas care”
(i) cn.wsj.com’s translation: 盛诺一家的总裁蔡强
(ii) Saint Lucia Consulting
www.stluciabj.com
("北京盛诺一家医院管理有限公司创始于2010年，2011年4月在北京正式成立")

(b) “Every year 3.09 million new cancer cases are found in China, and 1.96 million deaths are caused by cancer, according to the latest statistics released by the national cancer prevention center. In comparison, a total of 1.67 million new cancer cases and 590,000 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the US in 2014, according to the American Cancer Society.”

China’s population is about four times that of US. can it be possible that the prevalence and mortality of cancers in China are under-reported?