Questions about health care

Hello, i just found out (Thanks to this forum) that kids could get regular checkups (before i was told by 4 family members that kids only see the dr when they are sick!)
I’m trying to figure out how to get my kids to do their checkups and vaccinations. I just got the hand book every taiwanese kid gets when they are born… now what?
Ps. I can’t read Chinese and can only speak some. I live in kiaosiung. My taiwanese husband is too busy to help me with this so i need to go to the appts alone.
My questions are:

  1. Are there family drs where you go to for regular health checkups? Where do i Find them? How often are regular checkups for adults and children aged 2 and 4?
  2. Is the dentist and optometrist coverd by health care?
  3. I’ve been to three different clinics when my kids were sick. The Dr may say its a virus but then prescribe 3 days of antibiotics. Antibiotics dont kill viruses and should have a course of more than 3 days. Whats up with that?
    I may have more questions.
    Ive been procrastinating for weeks bc i dont know where to start.
    Thanks in advance!

If I’m not mistaken, you and your kids have ARC (or the marriage equivalent) of an ARC, so you should all have National Health Insurance (NHI). It’s the law that if you have any kind of Taiwan ID, that you have NHI.

Your husband’s company may also pay for full body check-ups for the ENTIRE family. This really depends on the company’s policy. My company pays for x000 amount for me and x000 amount for dependents (if I had any) on my ARC. You should check with the husband on what his company policy is, if they have any.

I’ll answer what I know…

Dentist is a usual no. Optometrist, yes.

Imo, it is better to give priority to getting vaccination. In taipei, most doctors speak English more or less. Just show them the immunization record (what I have is a yellow card at the first page of the handbook) with your kids. They may understand what you want. You can use Google translator to show them in Chinese what you want to tell.

Pediatricians do the well baby exam and vaccination. They often accept adults patients too. For adults no regular chuckup. For 2 yr old, maybe once or twice a year, for 3, once a year, and for 4 in not sure now but might be none.

If you have not read yet, this topic may help some.

Well child exam schedule in Taiwan

I put there a link to a booklet in which pp19–24 are on immunization. The booklet is written in both languages, so might help you get some clue to know what is written in your children’s handbook.

as for the 3 days part. That may be because more than 3 days are not covered by NHI. Didn’t doctor say to come back after 3 days? If you pay by yourself for additional 4 days, doctor would prescribe 7 days. Its cost is about 100NTD. But doctors might prefer to follow up after 3 days.

FYI

Regular Vaccination Schedule in Taiwan

Thanks so much! We are slowly getting the kids vaccines sorted out, we are
going to bring our kid to the dr today . Apparently we just need to make
an appt at any clinic or hospital pediatrician and they will do the checkup.