Before you book a doctor in China: what you can and cannot verify

Official records in China can show whether a doctor is registered. The records do not rate a doctor. This page lists what each check covers and where it stops. It does not recommend any doctor, clinic or hospital.

The doctor's registration

The Physicians Law says nobody may practise as a physician without a registered practice certificate. It also says health authorities must offer registration lookup through websites.

The National Health Commission's service platform lists a licensed doctor query (执业医师查询). That platform page forwards to the national doctor registration query. The portal's form requires every search condition. It asks for the province, the doctor's full name and part of the institution's name, and its own note says at least four consecutive characters of the institution's name are enough for a fuzzy search.

The result labels in the portal's script include practice category, practice location, practice certificate code, main practice institution, scope of practice and issuing authority. No quality rating appears among them. See verifying a doctor in China.

The registered scope

A registered physician practises according to the registered place of practice, practice category and scope of practice. The Physicians Law penalises practising outside the registered place, category or scope.

The institution

The Regulation on the Administration of Medical Institutions says no organisation or individual may carry out diagnosis and treatment without a medical institution practice licence or a filing. It also requires a medical institution to hang its practice licence, clinical departments, consultation hours and fee standards in a conspicuous place.

A clinic that files under the national clinic filing measures must display its filing certificate and its health technical staff's registration information in a conspicuous place. Our guide to checking a doctor at a private clinic explains those measures.

Titles

A professional title such as chief physician is a separate grade from the practice certificate. The Physicians Law deals with titles and with registration in separate provisions. The portal's result labels include 医师级别 but none reading 职称, the Chinese term for professional title. Our guide to doctor titles explains the title ladder.

Foreign doctors

The National Health Commission's measures say a foreign doctor who holds a lawful practice right abroad and comes to China for clinical diagnosis or treatment for not more than one year must register and obtain a Foreign Doctor Short-Term Practice Permit, and must have a medical institution in China as the inviting or employing unit. Our guide to foreign doctors practising in China walks through the measures.

Unknowns

Whether the national query accepts names written in Latin letters is unknown.
Whether it covers doctors licensed in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, or abroad, is unknown.
Whether it covers foreign doctors on short-term permits is unknown.

Questions people ask

Can I check a Chinese doctor in English?

The portal's examples are in Chinese, and whether Latin-letter names are accepted is unknown. Having the doctor's name and the institution's name in Chinese characters ready is the safer course.

Does registration show that a doctor speaks English or treats a condition well?

No. The result labels in the portal's script are registration details, and no quality rating or language field appears among them.

Is the clinic checked as well as the doctor?

They are separate records. The medical institution regulation covers the institution's licence or filing, and the Physicians Law covers the doctor's registration.

Sources

Each source above was read on the date shown. This page is an unofficial summary of general administrative information. It is not published by the bodies named above, and it is not medical advice. If it differs from the official texts, the official texts prevail, and rules may change after the check date.

This unofficial explanation reflects official pages read on the dates shown in each source note; it does not verify any named doctor and is not medical advice, and the live official record prevails. Medical and legal notice.