Thought I'd chime in on this one after having an extensive relationship with this hospital.
Fall of 2008, I manifested symptoms of Deep Vein Thrombosis. I knew what it was because my dad had had it and told me all about what symptoms to look for. I knew exactly how to find the problem and told the physicians at Kunming Hospital #1 to do the tests. They did not find the problem, even though I told them how and where to look. Distraught, I went to Richland where they promptly found the problem, showed me the results, and insisted on immediate treatment. Throughout the procedure, I got the feeling that I was their first case of DVT and that they were checking medical journals every step of the way. Treatment was successful. The private room I stayed in was super clean and I was treated with courtesy, if not curiosity. The entirety of my in-hospital stay cost me 20,000 yuan. For my father, who had similar treatment in the U.S., the cost was 25,000 dollars.
In an emergency situation, there is no way I would recommend this hospital in that it seems to be run by a lethargic monolingual skeleton crew that takes weekends off. If you know what you have and you want a clean place to be treated, I think its a good spot. One final "however"...read this article just as a reminder that you're in Kunming, where healthcare has LONG way to go.
<a href="http://gokunming.com/en/blog/item/1553/bereaved_family_forces_richland_hospital_shutdown" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gokunming.com/[...]</a>
Video: Puzhehei Music Festival
Posted byYou know what? Hugh are a rock star!
2012: Three game-changers for Kunming
Posted byExcellent update, Chris.
All of these issues are wide-ranging and far-reaching in scope. The transformation of the city over the last few years has been staggering to my eyes, which are accustomed to the slow crawl of change over time witnessed in the U.S.
The greatest, "on the ground" issue is whether public transportation will actually be successfully sold to the car-crazed citizens of Kunming. Will light rail actually "lead to local car owners leaving the car at home more often."? Owning a shiny new vehicle and driving it around for no reason seems to be the endgame of working long hours for 6 days a week for the average Chinese breadwinner. Sitting in your living room away from home in congested traffic with your wife and child in tow with climate control and surround sound stereo is the new daily diversion.
Will the rail system be able to accommodate the kind of volume that might hit the system if such a large percentage of KM'ers have their jobs moved to Chenggong? A longer commute might be just the justification for people to use that car more often.
If folks really do use their new cars mostly for functional purposes and if they actually do decide to leave the new love of their life at home, where are they going to "leave" these cars? Sidewalks are the new parking zones. 2-lane roads are now parking lots lining narrow one-way alleys through which cars, e-bikes, bicycles and pedestrians all need to navigate. Let's hope these are just symptoms and growing pains associated with "development". The government is good at implementing sweeping changes with the wave of a hand, as evidenced by the rate of construction and destruction all over town. I say, tax the hell out of gas and new car purchases and turn some of the high rise development projects into parking garages, sold for a premium to the "shadow rich".
Have your say: Vote for the Best of Kunming 2011
Posted byI agree with Roberto regarding the semantic issue of "best" versus "favorite", but who cares. We often make the linguistic gloss among friends that "This is the BEST..." when we mean its our favorite. Again, who cares. Its a website rating system of people's preferences. I'll tell you what, I make the best coffee in the world. I drink it everyday. Noone can tell me different...not Roberto...not GoKunming. My coffee wins "The Best of dtedheshi 2011". Noone can take that away from me! Noone!!! hahahaha!
Video: 500KM City Music Festival
Posted byHey, the Great Apes want to thank Hugh for all the pix and video of the festival. We had a blast! Hopefully there will be more and more of these things in KM. Now if anyone sees a black Epiphone frankentsein Les Paul with Gibson P-94 pickups floating around the scene... Let us know!