How to book a hospital appointment in China with a passport
How do I book a hospital appointment in China using a passport?
The short answer
Book through the hospital’s own channel or the official municipal platform, and confirm before you rely on it that the channel accepts a passport rather than only a Chinese ID number. Beijing publishes the 114 platform and an English-capable “International Service Beijing” mini program; Shanghai’s guide points to in-person booking, hospital hotlines and hospital WeChat accounts. If an online channel rejects your passport, the hospital’s hotline or its international department is the usual fallback.
Guide last reviewed:
Who this applies to
Foreign passport holders booking outpatient or screening appointments in mainland China.
Planned visits. Emergency care does not go through an appointment platform.
The named platforms are Beijing and Shanghai examples. Other cities publish their own; check the city’s official health or government portal rather than assuming the same app works.
Step by step
1 Start from the city’s official entry point
Beijing’s municipal medical guide brings together ordinary appointment information and separate international medical services, and identifies the English interface for the Beijing 114 appointment platform through the “International Service Beijing” mini program on WeChat or Alipay. Use this to see which departments exist and how the city organises access. It is an orientation point, not confirmation that a particular slot, doctor or language service is available to you.
Shanghai’s guide lists appointments made in person, via hotline, or through the hospital’s WeChat account. The hospital’s own channel is where the answer about your passport actually lives, because identity handling is set per institution and sometimes per department. Name the campus, the department and the service tier when you ask.
City News Service, republished by Shanghai municipal government · Source checked:
3 Ask four questions in the same message
Which channel accepts my passport for registration; can my existing records be reviewed before I travel; what language support exists for the consultation, the test instructions and the written report; and what is the fee for this specific department and service tier. Asking them together gets one answer you can keep, instead of four separate exchanges that each arrive after your travel dates are fixed.
Peking Union Medical College Hospital · Source checked:
4 Book screening through the screening service, not the clinic
A public hospital’s screening centre often books separately from its specialist clinics. A Beijing Municipal Health Commission notice publishing Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s own arrangements shows online screening appointments organised through the hospital’s own channels, apart from consultation booking. Decide which of the two you need before you queue for either.
Beijing Municipal Health Commission, publishing Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s notice · Source checked:
5 Keep the reply, and re-confirm close to the date
Keep the institution’s written reply with your appointment details rather than relying on a general city listing you read weeks earlier. Departments move, campuses change and notices are updated. Re-confirm shortly before travelling, and again after you land if the appointment is more than a few days away.
PUMCH’s outpatient notice separates ordinary, special and international services and sets out different arrangements for commercial-insurance registration. The booking route, the fee and the paperwork all follow from which of those you are entering.
A documented case of remote discussion before travel
One of our Travel & Care Stories follows a patient who moved from remote discussions to an evaluation in Shanghai. It is an attributed summary of a published report, not a typical outcome, but it shows what a pre-travel exchange with an institution can cover.
We do not make bookings, hold slots or act as an agent with any hospital.
Platform names and interfaces change. Follow the official source links and confirm what is current at the time you book.
A hospital appearing on a municipal list of foreign-language services is not a promise that your department, on your date, will have it.
Nothing here confirms that a specific hospital will accept your passport. That answer can only come from the institution.
Common questions
Can I book a Chinese hospital appointment from outside China?
Sometimes. Official mini programs and hospital WeChat accounts generally need a working phone number and app account, which is easier to set up once you have a usable mobile number. Hospital hotlines and international departments are the routes most likely to work from abroad, and they are also where you can ask about a pre-travel record review.
Do I need a Chinese phone number or WeChat account?
For app-based booking, in practice usually yes, because the official mini programs run inside WeChat or Alipay. In-person and hotline booking do not need one. Treat the app as a convenience, not the only door.
How far ahead should I book?
There is no single rule: slots at sought-after tertiary departments can be taken quickly, while neighbourhood and district facilities are easier. Ask the institution what its booking window is when you first make contact, and plan your travel dates around the answer rather than the other way round.
What if the online platform will not accept my passport number?
Use the hospital’s hotline or its international department, and say clearly that you hold a foreign passport and which department you need. This is a known friction point, not a sign that you cannot be treated.
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