Who This Helps

  • Travelers who become sick or need medicine in China.
  • Visitors deciding between pharmacy, clinic, hospital, emergency room, or ambulance.
  • Travelers carrying prescriptions or travel insurance.

Before You Start

  • For life-threatening symptoms or serious injury, call 120 or ask hotel staff to call emergency medical help.
  • For non-urgent symptoms, ask hotel staff or your insurer for a nearby hospital, international clinic, or pharmacy.
  • Carry your passport, insurance details, current medication names, allergies, and diagnosis history.
  • Use generic medicine names rather than only brand names when possible.
  • Ask for written dosage instructions and confirm whether the medicine causes drowsiness or food interactions.
  • Keep receipts, diagnosis notes, and invoices for insurance claims.
  • Contact your embassy or consulate for passport loss, detention, or serious emergency support, but use medical services for medical care.

Common Failure Cases

  • A pharmacy does not recognize my medicine brand. Show the generic name, active ingredient, dosage, and prescription if you have it.
  • I do not know whether it is an emergency. Call 120, go to an emergency department, or ask hotel staff to call medical help.
  • Insurance asks for documents later. Request printed or electronic medical documents before leaving the facility.

Source cross-check

This answer was checked against National Health Commission: Medical insurance notes for foreigners and State Council: 12345 hotline coordination with 110, 119, 120 and 122. A third source, International Services Shanghai: What to do in an emergency, was used where the answer depends on implementation detail or traveler-facing handling. Where sources use different scope or dates, the guide follows the current official or most directly authoritative source and keeps platform or traveler-facing material as implementation context only.

FAQ

What number should I call for ambulance?
Use 120 for medical emergency or ambulance service in mainland China.
Should I bring prescriptions?
Yes. Bring prescriptions, generic medicine names, dosage, and allergy information.
Will English be available?
It varies. Major cities and international clinics are more likely to have English support, but you should carry short Chinese symptom cards.