Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Eastern Science Hospital was located near the Ginza Hotel in Guangzhou and was housed in a renovated old building that was six-story tall. The building was made of stone, while numerous LED screens adorned its walls. The hospital looked archaic and modern at the same time. It was the subject of criticism of the senior citizens in the area, as they could not stand the building, which was a fusion of old Chinese architecture and modern technology.
And of course, the part which they could not stand the most was how much the hospital charged their patients.
The economy in Guangzhou was great. Hence, people would definitely take notice of such a huge hospital. They would enter the hospital and inquire about the price, and some would even seek treatment there. This was especially true for parents whose children required emergency treatment. They were the ones who were always rushing to the hospital with their credit cards, as they could care less about how much the treatment would cost.
Eastern Science Hospital charged their patients a registration fee between 3,000 RMB to 5,000 RMB, while the examination fees started from 600 RMB. There was no limit to how high the price of the imported medication prescribed and the consultation fees could go.
Middle-class families would start doubting their whole entire lives the moment one of their family members were admitted into Eastern Science Hospital.
Meng Shan, though, did not really care about this. Eastern Science Hospital was a high-end private hospital anyway, and they did not target those with a low income…
*Pound, pound, clang!*
*Pound, pound, clang!*
After the lion dance troupe at the entrance rested for a while, they started dancing again. Meng Shan got seriously annoyed by them.
He could not believe that patients nowadays were actually hiring lion dance troupes to dance at the hospital entrance during a medical dispute. This patient’s family member must have really hated the hospital a lot.
Since they spent such a large sum of money, it meant that they would not easily let the matter rest. They would at least demand way more than 100,000 RMB or 80,000 RMB. After all, hiring lion dance troupes cost more than 10,000 RMB a day. Aside from this, the lion dance troupe really brought a lot of publicity to the medical dispute. Eastern Science Hospital was located in the city center, and there was a small square in front of the entrance. Meng Shan used to like the square a lot, but right now, what was taking place there seriously irked him.
Meng Shan could totally imagine the way the social media newsfeed of those in Guangzhou was flooded with videos of the protest right now.
“Have you found the person?” Meng Shan furrowed his eyebrows as he looked down from the window.
“I’m still working on it.” Meng Shan’s assistant was a professional manager, and he looked even more flustered compared to Meng Shan right now.
“Try finding a way to utilize your connections. In China, we always utilize connections to get things done.” Meng Shan sighed. Back when he was looking for an assistant, he only considered the fact that the other party was from a corporate background as he hoped that his assistant would be able to strengthen the hospital’s connection with its investors. This was what Meng Shan was relatively weak in.
Who would have thought that even his assistant’s hands were tied in the face of this situation?
Meng Shan did not actually know what to do either. None of his connections were in Guangzhou. And ever since he left the public hospital he used to work in, the number of connections he was able to make courtesy of being a doctor plummeted. Back when he used to be an assistant chief physician, he had patients from all over the city, all over the province and even all over the country. Those patients would treat him politely just to score a hospital bed and get better care, and they were never stingy when it came to connecting him with other people and helping him out so that they could get into his good books.
However, because of how expensive seeking treatment in Eastern Science Hospital was, Meng Shan had lost a lot of connections. Not only could he not get any help from all the rich patients, but he also had to work hard to get into those patient’s good books.
However, as long as he got to earn more money, Meng Shan did not really care about such things. He was not a fan of socializing anyway. But this was a huge shortcoming now that he was faced with such a problem.
Truth be told, the hospital director used to take care of things like this…
As Meng Shan thought about this, he decided not to be conflicted anymore. He dismissed his assistant and made a call.
“I was just thinking about you, and you happened to call.” The hospital director immediately picked up the call and asked, “What’s the situation now?”
The hospital director of Eastern Science Hospital used to be the executive associate hospital director of Guangzhou. This was exactly Meng Shan’s position in Eastern Science Hospital right now. However, only those who had solid connections with the government were qualified to become the hospital directors of public hospitals. Hence, right after he retired, he accepted the offer from Eastern Science Hospital and became its hospital director. He was mainly in charge of logistics.
The hospital director was mostly in charge of things such as managing the nurses and patient care assistants as well as renovation and purchasing. Meanwhile, Meng Shan was in charge of the management of doctors and medical matters as well as the drugs and medical consumables used by the hospital. They worked quite well together. After all, private hospitals were small, there were not many channels where they could receive bribes from, and all of them were highly paid. As long as nothing serious happened, everyone worked well together.
However, Meng Shan had always tried his best to breach the hospital director’s territory before this. This was why he had been holding himself back from calling the hospital director.
Now that he was on the phone with the hospital director, Meng Shan had no choice but to take a deep breath and say in all seriousness, “We’re involved in a medical dispute with a family now. They have hired a lion dance troupe, and the troupe is in front of our entrance…”
“I know what’s going on. What’s with this family?” The hospital director cut Meng Shan off.
Meng Shan was almost out of breath. ‘This man…’
*Pound, clang! Pound, clang! Pound, clang…*
The lion dance troupe’s musical score sounded like a mess, and it also seemed extremely strange. However, there were plenty of onlookers. This was because the fact that a family hired a lion dance troupe to protest during a medical dispute was extremely interesting. Moreover, the hospital was located in the city center. There was a subway station right in front of it, and it was surrounded by restaurants.
Meng Shan sighed. He drew the receiver closer to his ears and said, “It’s not really a major matter. The patient is a young child, and he was sent to our hospital with a suspected cold. The doctor who gave him a consultation performed some basic examinations and authorized forms for the child to receive some tests and scans. However, as the child’s parents found it expensive, they requested for our hospital to omit some of those tests and scans.”
“There was a misdiagnosis?”
“Yeah. It’s no big deal actually. After the child received fluid transfusions for two days, we realized that his condition had worsened. Hence, we invited doctors from another hospital over for a consultation. The child was diagnosed with viral myocarditis. He recovered after we adjusted his treatment plan, but there are some sequelae. He sometimes experiences tightness in the chest and shortness of breath, and he’s not allowed to do sports for a while. He will actually recover naturally after a while.” Meng Shan paused for a moment and said, “The patient’s family isn’t that well-off, so they might be dissatisfied about the expenses.”
“The child isn’t attached to any health insurance plan?”
“None of them covers our hospital.”
“How much did they spend?”
“Around 820,000 RMB. We rounded the sum.”
On the other end, the hospital director fell silent.
He used to work in a government hospital himself, and based on his experience, such things happened even more often in government hospitals. Viral myocarditis in children was not easy to diagnose to begin with, and it was often misdiagnosed as a cold or pneumonia.
But no matter what treatment government hospitals administered, the fee could never go up to 820,000 RMB.
The hospital director shook his head and did not continue the topic. He said, “Anyway, I went and found out more about this family. They shouldn’t be able to afford to hire a lion dance troupe, and they are the type who would find another way to give us trouble instead.”
“Are you saying that there’s someone backing them up?” This was actually what Meng Shan speculated too.
The hospital director hummed in agreement and continued, “The child’s parents specifically said that they wanted to see you, right?”
Meng Shan furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
The hospital director chuckled and said, “I’ll just get straight to the point. The other party is looking to bring you down.”
Meng Shan froze and tightened his grip on his phone. “How did you know?”
“They’re not being subtle about it,” the hospital director said airily, “Do you remember this patient called Qi Yuquan? The dance troupe belonged to a business the Qi family owns.”
Meng Shan immediately felt diffident. “About this…”
“This matter is actually your problem,” the hospital director concluded. “Let me give you a suggestion. You can try solving it by issuing an apology or something. See what they want from you. Don’t worry that the other party will sue you or something. This isn’t how people in China do things.”
Meng Shan was speechless. He argued, “I merely gave them a suggestion. Besides, the patient’s surgery was a success.”
The hospital director sighed and said. “There’s no point telling me this. Let me put it this way. The Qi family is perhaps just testing the waters. They might just let matters rest if you’re able to solve the problem with the lion dance troupe and the child’s family without making a commotion. But if you’re unable to do this, it would be better for you to find out how the Qi family gets things done and find a way to deal with it.”
The hospital director hung up. Meng Shan’s grip on his phone was so tight that blood drained from his fingers.
