You just finished treatment at a hospital in China. The next question is almost always the same: how do I get my records, and will they actually be useful when I get home?
This isn't as straightforward as it sounds. Chinese hospitals have their own documentation systems, and getting complete, translated records takes deliberate action — not just asking at the front desk on your way out.
Here's what you need to know before you leave.
What "Medical Records" Actually Means at a Chinese Hospital
Chinese hospitals typically issue several categories of documents, and they don't automatically bundle them for you. You'll need to request each type separately depending on what your home doctors will need:
Discharge Summary (出院小结, chūyuàn xiǎojié) This is the core document. It covers your diagnosis, treatment received, medications prescribed, and follow-up instructions. Every inpatient stay produces one. Outpatient visits have a similar summary (就诊记录).
Laboratory and Test Results (检验报告, jiǎnyàn bàogào) Blood work, pathology, cultures. These are often printed and handed to you during your visit — hold onto every page. If you lost them, you can request reprints from the medical records department.
Imaging Results (影像资料, yǐngxiàng zīliào) CT scans, MRIs, X-rays. You'll usually need to request physical CDs/DVDs, or ask for digital copies. At some hospitals you can request the full DICOM files, which your home radiologist can read directly. Standard printout reports alone are often not sufficient.
Surgical and Procedure Reports (手术记录, shǒushù jìlù) If you had surgery, this document describes exactly what was done, including what was found and any complications. Critical for continuity of care.
Pathology Reports (病理报告, bìnglǐ bàogào) For any biopsies or tumor resections, this is the most medically important document. Oncologists at home will almost certainly want to review the original tissue blocks or glass slides, not just the report — more on that below.
Where to Go: The Medical Records Department
The department you need is called 病案室 (bìng'àn shì) — literally "case records room." Most large hospitals have a dedicated window, sometimes labeled "Medical Records" in English at hospitals with international departments.
At hospitals without English support, look for signage reading 病案室 or 病历室. It's often on the ground floor near administration, not near the clinical wards.
If you can't find it, the international patient department (国际部) can direct you and often assists with the paperwork process.
Timing: Don't Wait Until Your Last Day
Discharge summaries are typically available 24–48 hours after formal discharge. Other records — especially surgical reports and pathology — can take 5–7 days to finalize.
If you're leaving China within a week of discharge, start the records request process as soon as possible, ideally while you're still at the hospital. Don't assume the records will be ready when you go to pick them up.
For outpatient visits, test result reprints are usually available within 1–3 days. Imaging CDs are typically ready within 1–2 business days after the scan.
How to Request Your Records
Step 1: Go to the 病案室 with your passport and hospital registration card (就诊卡)
Your hospital registration card is the card you received when you first checked in. You'll need both documents. At some hospitals, you may also need your inpatient number (住院号).
Step 2: Fill out a records request form (申请表)
You'll typically be given a form to complete. At hospitals with international departments, there may be English-language versions. Otherwise, ChinaEasey can help you prepare the request in Chinese before you visit.
Step 3: Specify what you need
Don't just say "all my records." Be specific:
- Discharge summary
- Lab and blood work results (with reference ranges)
- Imaging — both the written report and the imaging files (CD or digital)
- Surgical report (if applicable)
- Pathology report (if applicable)
- Medication records / prescription list
Step 4: Pay any applicable fees
Record reprints typically cost 10–50 RMB per document. Imaging CDs may cost 20–80 RMB. Ask for a receipt (发票, fāpiào) in case your insurance requires it.
Step 5: Confirm the collection date
You'll be given a pickup date. Return with your ID and registration card to collect.
Getting Your Records Translated
Chinese hospitals provide records in Chinese. Some international departments will issue bilingual summaries, but this varies by institution and cannot be relied upon.
For records to be useful to doctors abroad, you'll need a certified medical translation. Here's the hierarchy of what works:
Option 1: Hospital-provided translation Some hospitals with established international programs offer official English translations. These are the most trusted by receiving physicians because they're issued by the original institution. Ask explicitly whether this service is available and how long it takes.
Option 2: Certified medical translation agency For documents without hospital-issued translations, use a certified medical translation service. Make sure the translator specifies they are providing certified translation and not just a general summary. Receiving hospitals in some countries (especially the US, UK, Germany) require certified translations for insurance and treatment planning purposes.
Option 3: ChinaEasey coordination ChinaEasey can coordinate certified translation as part of the post-treatment records package. We work with licensed medical translators familiar with Chinese hospital document formats.
Do not rely on machine translation for medical records. Automated translation of lab values, drug names, and surgical terminology introduces errors that can affect your home treatment.
The Pathology Tissue Question
If your treatment involved a biopsy, tumor removal, or cancer staging, your home oncologist will likely want more than just the pathology report. They may need:
- Glass slides (玻片标本): The actual microscopy slides made from your tissue sample
- Paraffin blocks (蜡块): The preserved tissue itself, from which new slides can be cut and re-stained
- Tumor profile testing results: If molecular testing (e.g., gene panel, PD-L1 staining, HER2) was performed
Pathology materials can typically be requested from the hospital's pathology department (病理科) alongside your other records. The hospital will usually transfer tissue to the care of the patient or to another facility upon request — this is your tissue, not the hospital's.
Some hospitals require a formal written request and a fee for slide loans or block transfers. Plan this well in advance, especially if you are returning to a country where continuing treatment will depend on it.
What to Do If You Can't Return to the Hospital in Person
If you've already left China and realized you're missing records, you have a few options:
Authorize a representative: You can sign a power of attorney (授权委托书) authorizing someone in China to collect records on your behalf. This requires a notarized signature in some cases.
Contact the hospital's international department directly: Many hospitals with international programs can send records by email or secure file transfer if you can provide your patient ID and a written request. The process varies by institution.
Work with a coordination service: ChinaEasey handles post-discharge records retrieval for patients who have already left China. This includes contacting the hospital, managing the request process, obtaining certified translations, and forwarding documents in the format your home doctors require.
Who This Is For and Who It Isn't
This process works well for:
- Patients who received planned treatment at major urban hospitals
- Anyone who kept their hospital registration card and patient ID
- Situations where 5–10 days exist before returning home
This gets complicated when:
- You received emergency treatment and were discharged quickly without time to plan
- You went to a smaller district hospital without an international department
- Your records are more than 2–3 years old (long-term storage policies vary)
- You need notarized or apostille-certified records for legal or insurance purposes
ChinaEasey's limits: We can coordinate records retrieval and translation. We cannot diagnose, interpret your results, or tell you what your records mean for your treatment decisions. For interpretation, you need your own physicians.
A Few Things Foreign Patients Often Forget
Ask for your imaging files, not just the report. The written radiology report is a summary. Your home radiologist will want to view the actual scans. Request DICOM format on a CD or USB, or ask whether the hospital can share via a medical image cloud link.
Keep everything from day one. Every lab slip, appointment receipt, and prescription printout should be retained throughout your stay. The records department can reprint most things, but not always quickly.
Check that values are in readable units. Chinese labs sometimes use different reference units from Western labs (e.g., different unit conventions for certain tumor markers). When getting your records translated, ask the translator to flag any values that use non-standard units so your home doctor isn't confused.
Budget 3–10 days for the full records package. If you're scheduling your return flight, factor in records retrieval time. Same-day complete records are rare.
Next Steps
If you're planning treatment in China and want to ensure continuity of care from day one, request a medical planning consultation with ChinaEasey. We help foreign patients navigate the entire journey — including making sure the records process is built into the plan before treatment begins, not scrambled on the last day.
If you're mid-treatment and need help with records retrieval, reach out and tell us what you need. Post-discharge coordination is one of the things we do regularly.
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