Why do they conduct physical examinations (体检) in China?

[tooironic]

I just finished my physical examination (体检) as required by the Chinese government to apply for a temporary residence permit (暂住证) on my X-visa. Apparently the physical examination I had undergone in Australia wasn't good enough as it lacked a so-called 报告, even though all the tests are the same.

 

It took 3.5 hours to finish. Most of the time was spent waiting in numerous lines, as a hoard of seafarers (young Chinese men about to take to the sea) had turned up for their physicals. There were a couple of foreigners in the medical centre as well, including a young Korean woman who was bombarded by the curious men, asking her phone number, smirking and saying simida over and over again.

 

The Chinese government requires that all foreigners get tests for 放射 (chest X-ray)、五官 (basic sight test, listening not tested when I went)、内外 (basic physical)、心电图 (ECG)、B超室 (ultrasound)、验血 (blood test).

 

My question is why do they conduct these physical examinations in China? In Australia I never had one done, except for my Visa application to China.

 

What are they looking for? What diseases are they trying to prevent entering China? Or is it all just a money-making exercise? I can't quite work it out. The majority of the tests do not seem to suit any real purpose. Let's say I had high blood pressure or an abnormal heartbeat - would the Government prevent me from studying in China? It seems all a bit surreal.

[陳德聰]

As far as I'm aware, they are looking for STIs, tuberculosis, etc.

 

The basic sight thing though, they test you while you wear your glasses, which baffles me.

[grawrt]

 

The basic sight thing though, they test you while you wear your glasses, which baffles me.

 

I can one up that. My test was basically this

 

*guy points at one thing* what is this?

me: left

him: okay *puts on the form that i have 20/20 vision*

 

Then there was supposed to be some color test or something but they never performed this test, the guy just signed his name and handed me the form. Honestly, when I got my medical done in the US it was way more thorough, the medical tests in China are so halfassed I'm surprised they make such a big deal for foreigners to get it done.

[liuzhou]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

元元元元元元元元元元元元元元元元

[heifeng]

My theories...or complete guesses.... 

1) Prevent forging of results from abroad. Were your results sealed from Australia? How can China actually verify the results anyway? In China falsified documents seems to a problem, so if I personally was handling paperwork from foreigners, I'd want to see results from a local exam. (I'm playing devil's advocate here...)

2) This happens in other countries too. For immigration to the US for example only exams from select clinics in China are accepted (so no it's NOT necessarily repeated in the US) and the results are in a sealed envelope along with a standard report which actually needs to be available before you go through customs/quarantine/immigration (plus whatever forms are actually submitted with other immigration paperwork to approve your entry visa). Also for the US, these physical exams are ONLY valid for 6 months otherwise everything has to be redone. When was the date of your last chest X-Ray for example?

 

I would actually say that screening for tuberculosis and other infectious diseases is quite important because there can be outbreaks in schools and such (even in the US b/c of some immigration "situations" there can be outbreaks in elementary schools, etc)

 

Lastly, I'm not sure for foreign students to the US or other countries, but prior to coming to the USA there may be a designated clinic they too must go to prior to being admitted to a school/given a visa. If someone residing in the US wants to apply to permanent residency, then likewise an exam may be required again within the USA. (this I cannot remember exactly, but I'm am pretty sure this is the case for this type of change of immigration/resident status)

 

as a hoard of seafarers (young Chinese men about to take to the sea)

 

Hmm, seems to me the wait would be quite interesting actually....

[Lu]

Strange that you had to re-do it. I moved to China twice, both times I had a physical examination done in Holland, brought all the paperwork (including the original heart film (is that the word?) and chest x-ray) to the clinic in China, and I only had to repeat one thing the second time around. I get the need for a chest x-ray and a blood test, but yeah, not sure why they want an eyesight test.

I do get why they did the test with glasses on. In the end, what matters is whether you can see the things around you, and as long as you keep your glasses on you can, so then all is well. When they test eyesight for driving tests in Holland it's also done with glasses on.

Edit: the 'heart film' was indeed an EKG, thanks Heifeng and Abcdegf!

[heifeng]

heart film=

echocardiogram?

[abcdefg]

#7 @Heifang -- @Lu probably means electrocardiogram (EKG.) The visa physical does not require an echocardiogram, (which is a more expensive test and is seldom done for screening, only being used after a specific problem is suspected.)

[Matty]

Let's say I had high blood pressure or an abnormal heartbeat - would the Government prevent me from studying in China? It seems all a bit surreal.

 

Nope, they really don't care about that. I had high blood pressure on my results and they just recommended I look into it.

Apparently my nose is also unusual? I have no idea how/why.

 

They're mainly looking for AIDs, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

 

If they found out you're likely to drop dead in the next month, well, neither you nor they want to suddenly find that out in China the hard way.

 

If they didn't require that I'd probably never go get check-ups, so I've never found it to be too bad a thing and it's not outrageously expensive either.

[imron]

Apparently my nose is also unusual? I have no idea how/why.

It is big.

[abcdefg]

Apparently my nose is also unusual? I have no idea how/why.

 

The dreaded 高鼻子 affliction!

[MPhillips]

Rhinohypertrophy - when will they establish a foundation to combat it?

[dnevets]

My experience:

 

Doc: Your blood pressure - how is it?

Me: Erm.... ok, I think.

Doc: <completes entire form>

[Matty]

I got a blood pressure test machine... twice... then she did the test manually since the result was high.

In the end she wrote down the machine result which wasn't as high as her manual test.

[Simon_CH]

I have done the test twice, once in Ningbo and once in Beijing - both were done relatively professionally. Can't say that I remember any short cuts, once the doctor even quickly explained some anomaly in the ultrasound test to me.