Guides
How to book a specialist in China before you travel
Official booking routes, passport registration and what a confirmed appointment should contain—with examples from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
By MedicCN, Editorial research · published 2026-10-15 · sources checked 2026-10-14
MedicCN editorial research. Sources checked on 14 October 2026; older source dates are identified where relevant. This guide has not undergone independent clinical review. Hospital inclusion does not imply a partnership or confirmed access.
Start with the hospital’s own route
PUMCH offers an English website and bilingual app for foreign patients. HKU–Shenzhen separates general bookings from its International Medical Center. Jiahui accepts international enquiries through a dedicated office. Choose the route for the service you actually need.
Open booking links from the hospital’s official website. Search results can mix hospital pages, agencies and unofficial appointment sellers. Save the original page so that you can return to the same contact if something changes.
A form submission or email acknowledgement is an enquiry. Treat the visit as booked only when the service has supplied an appointment date, location and patient-linked reference or confirmation. If the first response requests records, the team may still be deciding which department should see you.
| Provider | Route | What to establish |
|---|---|---|
| PUMCH, Beijing | Foreign-patient English website / bilingual app | Department and clinic category |
| HKU–Shenzhen | General: +86 755 86913366; IMC: +86 755 86913388 | General or international service |
| Jiahui, Shanghai | internationaloffice@jiahui.com | An accepted appointment, beyond the enquiry |
Register in the identity you will bring
Use your own passport details consistently. A booking under another person’s name can fail when the hospital checks the patient’s identity.
PKU Third Hospital’s July 2026 sports-medicine guide tells international patients to bring their original passport and describes creating an electronic medical card in its app. Keep the spelling, date of birth and document number aligned with the passport, including when a coordinator assists you.
If the form will not accept your name or document, use the official patient-service contact. Do not invent a Chinese identity number or borrow an account to bypass the problem. Ask whether staff can complete registration and whether an in-person identity check is required before the appointment.
For an initial email, describe the medical question and intended dates. Send passport copies and health records only through the channel the hospital identifies for that purpose. A short summary helps routing; a large, unexplained folder often leaves the receiving team without a clear question.
A short booking window changes how you plan the trip
Some specialist calendars open only shortly before the visit. An empty calendar months ahead may mean appointments have not been released, rather than that every session is full.
PKU Third’s international sports-medicine guidance describes releases at 3 pm for the next eight days. Treat that as a department-specific published rule and recheck the live calendar; it is not a national booking timetable.
When your dates fall outside the booking window, ask when the relevant session will become available and whether records can be assessed first. Keep travel arrangements flexible until the visit is accepted. A request for a particular surgeon should also explain whether another clinician in the same subspecialty would be suitable.
An outpatient slot confirms a consultation. It does not reserve an operating theatre, inpatient bed or a full sequence of tests. Separate those arrangements explicitly if the purpose of the trip is treatment rather than an initial opinion.
Read the confirmation as an instruction sheet
You need the campus, department, clinic category, date, arrival time, registration steps and payment or cancellation terms—not just the doctor’s name.
Large hospitals may run several campuses. Save the Chinese address and department name alongside the English version. Check whether the stated time is for registration or the consultation itself, and whether an unpaid reservation expires.
For records, bring prior reports and the images themselves when relevant, not only photographs of a radiology summary. Arrange interpretation before arrival if needed. A booking assistant and an interpreter during the clinical discussion may be different services.
A useful final message is: ‘Please confirm my appointment under [passport name], the campus and clinic, whether this visit is assessment only, and any registration or preparation required before arrival.’ Save the answer and the official contact number offline. That is the document to build the visit around.