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Q: How hard is it to get a hold of certain meds in China?
What is it really like ? I went to a drug store to check a prescription that I'm on and they could find no listing for the drug. Is it hard to get all meds there?
12 years 39 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
depends, antiboitics and basic meds are easy to get other meds you might have to search around . sometimes you need to get a good translation of it first . the only thing i cant seem to find here is niacin, all other meds i eventually found. this will help you also go to a good trusted doctor and explain the condition he may recommend the product you are looking for or something better. when you go to the drug store ask to see similar meds
I bring a years supply from home every year as the ones here aren't the same even if the name is, also you never know if you're getting counterfeit.
You might be better to go to the hospital and get the script filled. The drug stores don't seem to have what is otherwise easy to get at the hospitals. All you need to do is to fill in a form which registers you with the hospital with your details and medicine etc. They charged me 2.5 rmb for some pills I needed...
Njord:
I found the meds here more expensive than my home country and that the results we'ren't consistent, that was buying them at a HUGE well known hospital with one of the best reputations in Guangzhou, it's for my BP and I tell you from one box to the next I was all over the map!!! Now I use the ones from home, solid consistent numbers (I have a machine I use to monitor) so I can say with experience... BRING MEDS FROM HOME if you're able to. The meds are also more expensive in HK compared to home, so why not simply bring what you need? If you have NO choice and need buy here go to HK.
Nearly 99% of all major Western medicines are available here in China, most of them over-the-counter.
However, they are not available under the same brand names as in the West. If you go to a hospital, the doctor will check the trade name in the Chinese equivalent of the PDR and then make you a prescription for the local equivalent.
Additionally, and more easily, you yourself can easily ascertain the trade name of the medicine by doing a search on google. Type in the brand name and it will give you both the brand name and the trade name for the medicine.
