Hi Everyone,
I have a cold, probably nothing serious but aspirin didn’t help for 36 hours. I want to go to see a doctor to get antibiotics prescription but can’t find a list of family medicine or clinic in my neighborhood. The other option is to go directly to the Emergency Room of Adventist Hospital but I guess this is not really the procedure.
Cheers
I’m not sure if there is such a resource. Anyone know of one?
You mean resource as in, antibiotics (treating bacteria) that can cure a cold (caused by a virus)? Nope. Biology doesn’t work that way. May as well drink whiskey to improve coordination or several cups of coffee to help you sleep. Of course, if you do have a bacterial infection, antibiotics will help, but good luck finding a doctor here that will actually test that.
But if you want to see a clinic, I’d recommend just walking to a nearby main street. They’re everywhere, although opening hours (and days) vary widely. Once you walk in, registration is usually fairly easy, and often costs around 200NT, as long as you’ve got your ARC and health card. Note that if you ask for antibiotics, you’ll get antibiotics, but they may have no relationship whatsoever to whatever ails you.
Oh, OK, I’ll be more helpful: just discovered that googling “Danshui 醫院” gives me a map with a whole bunch of little balloons showing hospitals and clinics. That may be your best bet. Except, of course, you probably don’t want to search for Danshui; if you can’t type Chinese, just copy and paste the Chinese for “hospital” that I typed above. (Note that searching “Danshui medical clinic” is nowhere near as useful.)
EDIT: Oops - that googling process is a lot more complex than I’d realized. First, go in Google maps, and zoom in on wherever you live. Then, just type (or cut and paste) 醫院. That should give you lots of useful markers. What I described a few moments ago will give you wildly different results depending on where you are within Google.
[quote=“lostinasia”]
Oh, OK, I’ll be more helpful: just discovered that googling “Danshui 醫院” gives me a map with a whole bunch of little balloons showing hospitals and clinics. That may be your best bet. Except, of course, you probably don’t want to search for Danshui; if you can’t type Chinese, just copy and paste the Chinese for “hospital” that I typed above. (Note that searching “Danshui medical clinic” is nowhere near as useful.)
EDIT: Oops - that googling process is a lot more complex than I’d realized. First, go in Google maps, and zoom in on wherever you live. Then, just type (or cut and paste) 醫院. That should give you lots of useful markers. What I described a few moments ago will give you wildly different results depending on where you are within Google.[/quote]
Yep, something like this, thanks!
I wonder if there are still doctors out there who dole out antibiotics because their patients “want” them and it makes it easier to shut them up and send them back out the door 
Went to a small clinic like you said near my home. This is quite convenient. Paid 200NT for the consultation and medicine. I was suprise by the quantity of medicine: 1 antibiotics (I think, it was necessary here lol) and… four pain killers. I am curious, what is the price of the consultation without NHI ?
You could simply go to a pharmacy and buy your own antibiotics.
Are you sure about this ? In many countries you need prescription to get those.
Are you sure about this ? In many countries you need prescription to get those.[/quote]
Not in Taiwan.
Are you sure about this ? In many countries you need prescription to get those.[/quote]
Not in Taiwan.[/quote]
Hey man,
I just read your reply and, considering that I’m having a small health problem (throat-ache) but I still have not made a health insurance before coming to Taiwan, I’m a bit worried about:
, I don’t need a prescription? This would solve everything if I’m able to avoid the visit (you know…I could have a doctor-friend).I’m not sure what thread to post this in, but this looks about right, so here goes:
The National Health Insurance Administration’s website has an online device (I’m not sure whether it should be called an app) for finding hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, and finding out their open days and times, and so on.
It’s in Chinese, so I used Google Translate. It took me a while to even partially figure out how to use it. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information that the device provides.
Anyway, this is the URL for the device. There may be a more elegant URL for this thing, but that’s only one I know of at the moment.
For all I know, this information may already have been posted somewhere on the board, but I don’t recall ever seeing it before.
I hope this helps, or at least does no harm.
Edited to add:
Upon experimentation, I think I should repeat that I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information that the device provides. Earlier today, relying on the NHI app’s Chinese New Year schedule information for a specific place, I visited that place, and on the closed door of the place, I read a Chinese New Year schedule that was considerably at variance with the app’s information.
I should have called first. 
Still, the place does appear to be open at times during Chinese New Year. Also, regardless of the schedule differences, they were open this morning, so if I’d been a hard-charging early-bird type, the schedule differences wouldn’t have mattered.
Edited again to add:
My apologies to the National Health Insurance Administration for seeming to imply fault on their part.
In the first place, they put a disclaimer in their search-result pages:
Google Translate translates the above as follows:
In the second place, of course they have to rely on the medical entities for the information, the members of which may have to change their schedules for one reason or another.
(I should also add that I am one of the least reliable people I know.)
Anyway, I’ve been playing around with this thing, and I think it can be useful.