Everything patients ask, in one place

Yes. Public hospitals treat international patients as self-paying patients — you register with your passport and pay the hospital directly. No referral is required.

No. But bring whatever records you have; a referral letter helps the specialist understand the question faster.

Yes, with support. Outside international departments, English is limited, and hospital documents are issued in Chinese only. That is exactly the gap our interpretation and translation covers.

Sometimes. If you already have a confirmed diagnosis and a specific hospital in mind, coming straight is workable — the opinion would mostly be confirming a decision you have already made.

Most people are not in that position. What the opinion actually buys you is a forecast:

• Cost, before you fly. Which items make up the bill, which one is most often left out, and roughly what range it lands in — instead of “we will see when you get here”.
• Time, before you book. How long the typical stay is, how many trips the plan needs in total, the gap between surgery and the final fit, and how long the wait for a slot really is.
• Whether the trip is worth it at all. Sometimes the answer is that the same treatment is done at home, and the money is better spent elsewhere.

You can skip it. You cannot un-spend the airfare.

Sixteen of the seventeen are public tertiary (Grade 3A) institutions; one is private and JCI-accredited. All seventeen were assessed for international service capability, and all are regulated and audited like any large hospital system.

In international departments, often yes. In general outpatient clinics, usually no. We confirm the specific department rather than the hospital as a whole.

If your case hinges on a specific clinical trial, a very rare procedure, or a surgeon who only operates in one place, another city — or your own country — may serve you better. We will say so.

A written review of your records by a partner specialist who practises at a Grade 3A hospital in the Pearl River Delta, answering the questions you list, delivered within five to eight business days of complete records.

A partner specialist who practises at a Grade 3A hospital, deliberately not one of the seventeen busiest pilot hospitals. It is their personal opinion, not a hospital consultation, and it carries no hospital seal. We prepare, place and translate the case; we do not write the clinical view.

$199 covers the opinion and the translation both ways — your records into Chinese, the opinion back into yours. Everything else is billed by the hospital, at hospital prices: tests, procedures, medication, bed days. The registration fee (¥800–1,800) is the one charge we collect on the hospital's behalf — prepaid, passed on at cost, no margin.

A one-page case summary, the specialist's view, which department fits, a realistic timeline and cost range, and an answer to each question you listed.

Five to eight business days after your records are complete: up to five to line up the right physician, then up to three for the written opinion. Most cases finish in about two weeks from the first message.

Within one business day of payment we send a specific list of what is missing. The five-day clock starts when the file is complete.

As many as you need, as long as they are about your condition and your treatment. List them when you send the file; the opinion answers each one in order. Anything else — visas, costs, hotels — we answer ourselves, usually the same day.

A short clarification by email is fine. A new clinical question is a new review.

Not in the clinical sense. The specialist will tell you what the condition most likely is, based on your records. A firm diagnosis needs an examination, and usually a biopsy, in person.

We refund the $199 in full — if we cannot match you to a suitable Grade 3A hospital department within five business days of payment.

No — and that is exactly what the $199 is for. The review answers one question: should you come at all? A Chinese specialist in the relevant department reads your records and gives a written view on whether treatment here would make a difference. You book flights only if the answer is yes — and by then you already know why you are coming: which hospital, which department, roughly how long, roughly how much. If the answer is no, you have spent $199 instead of two weeks and a return ticket.

Yes, in full, against the coordination fee — provided you started with the written opinion.

By three questions: does the department do this at volume, is there a real international pathway, and what is the realistic wait. Not by ranking.

Yes. Tell us which one and we will say whether it is a genuine fit — including when it is not.

The Guangzhou hospitals on Guangdong's first list of designated international medical service hospitals, published in February 2026. The full list, with logos and specialties, is on our hospitals page.

China's top hospital tier — the equivalent of a major teaching hospital. It is a capability and staffing classification, not a ranking within the tier.

It depends on availability. Some hospitals allow booking by named physician; whether that physician sees international patients in a given week is not something we control.

Yes, if your records travel with you. We re-scope and re-quote rather than improvise.

A separate unit inside a public hospital with dedicated rooms, English-capable staff and often premium wards. It is faster and calmer, and it costs more than the general clinic.

No. You pay the hospital what the hospital charges. We are paid separately by you for coordination.

Yes. At discharge we hand over the DICOM files or disc together with the printed reports, and we translate the written documents. You should end up holding both the images and the paper — a report alone is not much use to your own doctor.

The S2 visa is the standard route for medical treatment. Short outpatient visits can often be done on a visa-free entry or a tourist visa, if the stay fits.

Many passports can. China's 30-day visa-free list has been expanded repeatedly, and Guangzhou Baiyun participates in the 240-hour visa-free transit. Rules change — we check the current version for your passport.

A ten-day visa-free stay for eligible travellers passing through China to a third country, with a confirmed onward ticket. Cross-province travel within the permitted area is allowed.

The treating hospital — and only after it has actually seen your case. A hospital will not issue a medical invitation letter on the strength of records alone, so in practice most patients enter on a tourist visa or visa-free and convert inside China once the hospital has taken them on as a patient.

Yes, each traveller needs their own visa or entry permission. We prepare the supporting documents for the person travelling with you as well.

Allow three to four weeks: records, translation, appointment confirmation, then the visa. Starting late is the most common avoidable delay.

The consulate decides; we cannot influence it. We can supply corrected or additional documentation and you may reapply.

Not exactly. Chinese public hospitals bill by item, and cannot quote a final figure before seeing your tests. What you can get first is an itemised estimate after the consultation, and a cost range in the written opinion. That range covers medical costs only — registration, tests, procedures and medication. Flights, accommodation, meals and local transport are not included and are budgeted separately.

No — but let us be precise about what each number is for. The $199 is the written opinion, which you have already bought. If you then want us to arrange the trip, there is a coordination fee, quoted by scope before we start. Treatment fees (tests, surgery, medication) are paid by you to the hospital; the registration fee is prepaid to us and passed on at cost. Third-party costs — hotel, car, flights — are yours, paid directly.

By item, at the hospital. International departments and larger hospitals accept Visa and Mastercard, along with cash in RMB; WeChat Pay and Alipay linked to a foreign card also work. Smaller payment windows may not take cards, so carry some cash as backup — and note that setting up the payment apps needs a Chinese phone number.

Because scope varies too much — two days or three weeks, one hospital or three, one language or two. The quote follows the written scope, and you approve it before anything starts.

Registration, each test and scan, consumables, medication, bed days, procedure and anaesthesia fees, and any premium-ward surcharge. It is itemised, not bundled.

Cancellation terms are written into the scope you approve before work starts, including anything already paid to third parties. The $199 is refunded if we cannot match your case.

Our fee is quoted in US dollars. Hospital charges are in RMB, paid at the hospital.

Imaging (DICOM or the disc, not only the report), written reports, pathology, treatment history with dates, a medication list, and the questions you want answered.

You can start, but a specialist judging extent and surgical options usually needs the images. Ask your imaging centre for the disc or a download link.

For cancer cases, yes. Hospitals here often re-review the tumour before making a plan, and they need the material, not just the report.

We do, into Chinese, in the format the department expects. Translation is included in the $199. We do not set a page cap; if the volume is unusually large we will tell you before we start.

Medical translation by people who handle these documents routinely, checked against the source. Numbers, dosages and staging are cross-checked.

Usually yes, if it is translated, signed and accompanied by the original imaging. Acceptance is ultimately their decision.

Yes. Everything the hospital issues is yours, in the original Chinese, alongside our translation.

It depends on the work-up. A consultation-plus-plan trip is often four to five days; surgery and radiotherapy run longer. The written opinion gives you a realistic window before you book.

Yes — near the hospital you will actually be going to, not a district we picked in advance. We book; you pay the hotel directly.

Registration, queueing, interpretation in the consulting room, paying at the right window, chasing results, and writing down what the doctor said.

Yes. Tell us in advance so the appointment and interpretation cover them too.

Go to the nearest hospital emergency department or call 120. We are a coordination service on business hours, not an emergency line.

Most common medications are available; some imported brands are not. Bring your current supply and a written list with doses.

Yes — and you do not have to start from scratch. A return visit is arranged and quoted as a new piece of work, because it means a new appointment, a new trip and new paperwork — not because we have gone away. Once treatment is over, the lead clinician is your own doctor at home; our part is to keep the Chinese side reachable for them: records, questions, or a fresh look at new scans.

It is shared only with providers you approve, stored on access-controlled systems, and translated by people under confidentiality obligations.

No. Nothing is sent to a hospital until you have agreed to the scope.

Yes. Write to us and we delete what we are not required by law to keep.

Card data is handled by the payment provider and is not stored by us.

On request, yes — before records are shared.

Neither. We are a coordination service. Hospitals and licensed physicians make every clinical decision.

Patients pay us: a fixed $199 for the written opinion, and a quoted coordination fee. No commission from hospitals, no markup on hospital bills.

Clinical responsibility sits with the treating hospital and physician. Our responsibility is the coordination we agreed in writing, and it is limited to the fee you paid us for that service.

Not as a medical provider. We are a coordination service: we do not diagnose, treat or provide medical care of any kind, so we hold no medical licence. What we do is non-clinical — preparing records, placing the question, translating, and coordinating the trip.

Yes. The first conversation is free, and you do not need to know the hospital or the treatment name yet.

English and Chinese are standard. Arabic and Russian can be arranged with more notice.