How to Complain About a Hospital or Clinic in China
There are four recognised routes for a medical dispute in China, set out in the State Council’s Regulation on the Prevention and Handling of Medical Disputes, in force since 1 October 2018: negotiate directly with the institution, apply for people’s mediation, apply for administrative mediation through the health authority, or sue in the People’s Court. Before any of them, do two things: get a copy of your medical records, which you have a right to, and work out whether your problem is a clinical one (health commission) or a consumer one — price, contract, refund, advertising — because those go to a completely different regulator on 12315. The municipal 12345 line, 24/7 and English-capable in the big cities, will route it either way if you are not sure.
Records first. Hospital’s own medical affairs office second. 12345 if that desk stonewalls you. And be honest with yourself about which kind of complaint you have — sending a refund dispute to a clinical regulator is the single most common way these go nowhere.
Why this page exists on a checkup site
Almost everything we publish is written for the good case: choose a hospital, price a package, book it, carry an English report home. The bad case — a bill you did not agree to, a clinic that will not release your file, a procedure that did not go the way you were told it would — is the one nobody writes for foreigners, and it is the one with the most urgency attached. A site that tells people it is reasonable to buy medical care in China has an obligation to say plainly what recourse exists when it is not.
The honest framing: China has a more structured medical-complaints system than most visitors expect, with a free mediation tier that has no equivalent in a lot of Western health systems. What it does not have is an English-language front door signposted for foreigners. The routes are open to you; finding them is the problem this page solves.
Step 1 — get your records before you complain
Your medical record is the case. Ask the hospital’s medical records office (病案室) with your passport; the right to copy your own records is established in the 2018 Regulation, and in practice release is routine — large hospitals now push copies through WeChat or a lobby self-service kiosk as well as over the counter.
Do this before you raise a dispute, not after. Once a complaint is formally open, the same request stops being a counter transaction and becomes part of a process, with the delays that implies. Ask for the complete file, not a summary: consultation notes, test results, imaging files as well as reports, operative notes if there was a procedure, and the signed consent forms. If you are asked why, “for my doctor at home” is true, sufficient and uncontroversial.
| What to collect | Where it comes from | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Full medical record (病历) | Medical records office, with passport | The substance of any clinical complaint |
| Fapiao (发票) and itemised bill | Cashier — ask at the time of payment | The only proof of what you paid; an unofficial receipt is much weaker |
| Signed consent forms | Part of the record | Establishes what you were told would happen |
| Practice licence (医疗机构执业许可证) | Wall of the clinic — photograph it | Scope-of-practice breaches resolve fastest and are only checkable if captured |
| WeChat messages | Your own phone — back them up | Usually where the promises were actually made |
Step 2 — the hospital’s own desk
Every licensed Chinese hospital has a medical affairs office (医务处) or a patient-relations office (医患关系办公室) that exists for this, and negotiation between the two parties is the first of the four statutory routes rather than an informal preliminary to them. Ask reception for it by name; asking the ward or the doctor you have a problem with will usually get you nowhere.
Two practical notes. Bring a Chinese speaker if you possibly can — these desks are rarely staffed in English even at hospitals whose clinical departments are. And put the complaint in writing as well as saying it, dated, with what you want stated explicitly: a corrected bill, a refund, an explanation, a copy of something. A complaint without a named remedy tends to be received as a grievance rather than a request.
Step 3 — work out which regulator you actually need
This is the step that decides whether the next month is productive. Two different agencies handle two different kinds of complaint, and they do not forward to each other usefully.
| If your complaint is about… | Go to | How |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical care, a bad outcome, whether the institution or practitioner is properly licensed, scope of practice | Local health commission (卫生健康委员会) | Municipal or district level; the 12345 line will route you |
| Price, contract terms, refunds, deposits, package sales, what the advertising claimed, counterfeit product | Market regulator (State Administration for Market Regulation) | 12315 hotline or the 12315 online platform |
| You are not sure, or the desk will not engage at all | Municipal government line | 12345 — 24/7, English support in major cities |
The medical-aesthetics case is the clearest example of why this matters. Cosmetic and medical-beauty complaints are usually consumer complaints wearing clinical clothing — the argument is about what was promised, what was charged and whether a refund is owed. In 2020 the China Consumers Association logged over 7,200 medical-aesthetics complaints, and the majority concerned after-sales service, quality and contracts rather than clinical error. Those belong on 12315. Filing them with a health commission is not wrong, exactly, but it is the slow door.
A nationwide municipal government service number, run city by city, operating around the clock for non-emergency complaints, requests and questions about government services and local businesses. The operator records your complaint as a tracked work order and routes it to the responsible department. That tracking is the point: it converts a conversation into a case with a number, which is precisely what a stonewalling front desk is relying on you not having. It is not an emergency line — those are 120 for an ambulance and 110 for police.
Step 4 — mediation, and why it is the route most disputes actually take
The 2018 Regulation created a people’s mediation tier for medical disputes: a local medical-dispute mediation committee, independent of the hospital, which is free to use and works to a much shorter clock than litigation. It is the workhorse of the system, and for a foreign patient it has a particular advantage — it does not require you to have found and paid a lawyer before anything can begin.
Administrative mediation through the health authority is the parallel route, used more where the dispute turns on whether a rule was followed. Litigation is the fourth route and remains open regardless: you are not obliged to mediate first. What you should not do is assume the court is the only real option because it is the one you recognise from home. In China it is generally the slowest and most expensive of the four, and the three ahead of it are not token steps.
What your embassy can and cannot do
Worth calibrating before you need it. A consulate can typically give you a list of local lawyers and English-speaking doctors, contact your family, visit you if you are hospitalised or detained, and confirm you are receiving care. It cannot compel a hospital to do anything, arbitrate your dispute, pay or negotiate a bill, or get you a refund. Treat it as a backstop for a serious incident rather than as a complaints channel — and register with it in advance if you are travelling for a significant procedure, because that is the cheap version of this insurance.
The version of this that prevents the problem
Most of what goes wrong for foreign patients in China is not clinical. It is a scope mismatch: a package sold as one thing that turns out to be another, a price quoted without the extras, a report that arrives in Chinese when the whole point was to hand it to a doctor at home. Those are all decidable before you pay.
Three checks that cost nothing. Confirm the institution is what it claims — our guide to what a Grade IIIA (三甲) hospital is explains the classification that actually carries weight, and JCI accreditation is a separate and much narrower list. Get the itemised price in writing, in advance, including what happens if something is added on the day; our cost breakdown covers what the real ranges are. And settle the reporting language before you book, because an English report is a separate service almost everywhere, not a default.
Frequently asked questions
Who do I complain to about a hospital in China?
Start with the hospital itself. Every licensed Chinese hospital has a medical affairs office (医务处) or a patient-relations desk (医患关系办公室) whose job is exactly this, and under the 2018 Regulation on the Prevention and Handling of Medical Disputes, in force since 1 October 2018, direct negotiation between the two parties is the first of four recognised routes. If that fails or you cannot get a hearing, the escalation depends on what kind of complaint it is: a clinical or licensing issue goes to the local health commission, a money, contract, advertising or refund issue goes to the market regulator on 12315, and the municipal 12345 line will route either one for you if you do not know which.
What are the four ways a medical dispute is resolved in China?
The 2018 Regulation on the Prevention and Handling of Medical Disputes, adopted 20 June 2018 and in force from 1 October 2018, sets out four: negotiation directly between patient and institution; people's mediation through a local medical dispute mediation committee, which is free and the most-used route; administrative mediation via the health authority; and litigation in the People's Court. They are not strictly sequential — you can go to court without mediating — but in practice almost everything is attempted in that order, because the first two are free and fast and the last is neither.
Is 12345 a real option for a foreigner, and does anyone speak English?
Yes. 12345 is the nationwide municipal government service line, operating 24/7, and it takes non-emergency complaints about public services and local businesses including hospitals, records them as a work order and routes them to the responsible department. Major cities including Beijing and Shanghai run English-language support on it. It is genuinely the lowest-effort first escalation if the hospital desk has stonewalled you, because it forces the complaint into a tracked system with a case number rather than leaving it in a conversation.
How do I get a copy of my Chinese medical records?
Ask the hospital's medical records office (病案室) in writing, with your passport. The right to copy your own records is established in the 2018 Regulation and hospitals in practice release paper copies routinely; many now also release them through WeChat or a self-service kiosk in the lobby. Do this first, before you complain, and do it in person if you can. Records are the whole case — a complaint without them is an account of a conversation, and once a dispute is open the process becomes slower and more formal.
My complaint is about a private cosmetic or medical-aesthetics clinic. Same route?
Partly, and the difference matters. If the issue is clinical or the clinic may not be properly licensed, the local health commission is the right regulator. But most medical-aesthetics complaints are consumer complaints — price, contract terms, refunds, what the advertising promised — and those belong to the market regulator on 12315, which is a different agency with different powers. In 2020 the China Consumers Association logged over 7,200 medical-aesthetics complaints, the majority about after-sales service, quality and contracts. Sending a contract dispute to a health regulator is the most common way these stall.
Can my embassy help me complain about a Chinese hospital?
Only in limited ways, and it is worth knowing the limits before you rely on it. A consulate can generally provide a list of local lawyers and English-speaking doctors, contact family on your behalf and confirm you are receiving care. It cannot compel a hospital to act, adjudicate a dispute, pay a bill or obtain a refund for you. It is a useful backstop for a serious incident, not a complaints channel.
Is there a deadline for making a medical complaint in China?
There is no fixed statutory window for simply complaining to a hospital or a regulator, and the sooner you do it the better the evidence. Litigation is a different matter: civil claims are subject to limitation periods under Chinese civil law, and the clock and its starting point depend on the facts. If your situation is heading anywhere near a court, that is the point to take advice from a licensed Chinese lawyer rather than to work from a general guide — including this one.
What should I keep if I think there might be a problem?
Everything, and in this order: the fapiao (official tax receipt) for every payment, the itemised bill, the signed consent forms, your full medical record and any imaging files, and the WeChat conversations with the clinic or agency. Photograph the clinic's wall-mounted practice licence (医疗机构执业许可证) too — a licence naming procedures the clinic does not actually hold is one of the fastest-resolving categories of complaint, and it is only checkable if you captured it.