112 An ambition of Completing Six Hundred Surgeries in Three Years (1/2)

On the day Hayato Ueda arrived, Yun Hua Hospital hung out the brochure which they had long prepared: Specialist Consultant from Keio University, Japan.

Using the name of the famous Keio University, the registration for Pan Hua and Hayato Ueda's combined outpatient consultation was clogged up within ten minutes. The numbers went up to thirty, and because of it, they had to announce that the outpatient consultation would be extended until the afternoon. Then, the incoming scalpers raised the price up to 500 RMB in one go, and the number was lined up to another thirty.

If the price went up any higher, patients would rather go to Beijing and see a doctor in Shanghai.

Department Associate Director Pan was pleased with this change.

In many doctors' point of view, a specialist being paid 11 RMB for each consultation was similar to a disservice. If there were more than thirty consultations in one day and someone unreasonable showed up, or if someone caused a scene in trying to get a reimbursement, 11 RMB per consultation was a plain insult.

The 500 RMB pricing given to Department Associate Director Pan by the scalpers inevitably came as great pleasure.

Department Associate Director Pan believed that a consultation fee of 15,000 RMB in the afternoon was well-founded compensation for his delayed lunch and skipped dinner. Of course, he still earned only 3.03 RMB for each patient consulted, and he even had to equally divide the fee equally with Hayato Ueda. However, respect was an irreplaceable fee.

None of the patients who were willing to spend 500 RMB to see a doctor would be unreasonable. Some of them might carry only mild ailments. Most of them were patients who required the expertise Pan Hua had accumulated over twenty years…

Pan Hua gave all of them great care and attention.

In truth, he could not solve each patient's problem. Many patients could only be directed to specialized departments, which meant that Pan Hua could not provide a useful diagnosis. This left Pan Hua, who had never ever conducted consultations worth 500 RMB, at slight unease.

Nevertheless, those patients still left while thanking them profusely. None of them ever requested for reimbursements.

”There's a benefit to the scalpers' tickets,” Pan Hua said to Hayato Ueda in Japanese, ”At least they can't come to me for reimbursement.”

Hayato Ueda did not understand Pan Hua's point, he simply said, ”Why would they want reimbursements?”

Pan Hua was stunned for a moment and said, ”Generally… they think that doctors have to give useful solutions before they are qualified to receive consultation fees, especially so when the scalpers charge them so much for the tickets.”

”Doctors are not gods. Besides, even when people pray, they don't take back their tributes just because their prayers were not answered.”

Hayato Ueda then quickly apologized and said, ”Sorry, I said something selfish.”

”Nevermind. It just means that you're rather easygoing.” Pan Hua complimented Hayato, just like he did when he was in Japan before he continued with his consultation.

The scope of their consultation was not limited to flexor tendon injuries, but also included other fields within hand and foot surgeries.

Doctors could not just take into account their own specialty when they took in outpatients; they also had to take into account the condition of their department and their treatment groups. The most fundamental consideration was whether they could cure the illness or injury, and this was the most common of variables in primary hospitals. If they could not detect the disease, they would ask the patients to head to a large hospital for checkups, or take them in before they were transferred. Secondly, they had to consider if the treatment they offered was the best option offered in their department. When Pan Hua was not around, the M-Tang technique had not been the mainstream surgical procedure used in Yun Hua Hospital. Those who required this particular technique would usually not be taken into the Hand Surgery Department.

Finally, they had to consider the department's holding capacity. This was a common shortage in top hospitals. Ordinary patients could only be admitted to a top hospital when they had a disease that was considered troublesome to their local hospitals. Otherwise, the hospital had to make use of their available space frugally.

During the months Pan Hua went for his in-service training, his treatment group had almost been starved to death. Right then, it was only natural for him to take in a large number of patients.

Hayato Ueda felt a little guilty. He looked at the number, which was now more than twenty. After twelve people were admitted to the hospital, he whispered to Pan Hua in Japanese, ”There are too many patients. We can't do it.”

”If you cannot bear the sight, we can transfer them to other groups. We can treat it as us strengthening our relationship with the other groups,” Pan Hua put his words in a way that Hayato Ueda could understand.

Hayato Ueda made a sound showing that he understood, and he said, ”So, hospitals in China can give out patients as gifts?”

”Your comprehension skills…” Pan Hua shook his head and said, ”Let's get back to the topic, we can only have surgeries to do after we take in more patients today. This is the same for China and Japan.”

”So, where do Doctor Ling Ran's patients come from? You know, the doctor we spoke of yesterday?” Hayato Ueda was still very concerned about this.

Pan Hua spoke, unconcerned, ”Don't worry about him anymore for now. Ling Ran is a one-show pony. Although he has performed some surgeries, he is still very young. He won't be able to catch up to our total surgery count.”