English

Cross-border medical services

Your medical journey
to China.

Paperwork First coordinates medical travel to China for international patients and families. From hospital enquiries and appointments to records, interpreting and practical arrangements, we help bring the different parts of your visit together.

Plan your medical visit → Our services & fees

Records & translation Hospital correspondence On-site interpreting Visa & arrival planning

What we handle

One medical journey. Support at every stage.

Prepare before you travel, communicate clearly while in China and keep documents and follow-up correspondence organised after your return. The work we take on is agreed with you in advance.

An expanding file of documents on a desk

Before you travel

Records & translationTranslated in full into Chinese, unfavourable findings included, quoted in writing before we start.

Hospital correspondenceWe write to institutions in Chinese and put your case in front of the right department.

AppointmentsWe help communicate appointment requests and changes. Availability and dates are confirmed by the hospital.

Visa documentsWe help prepare and translate supporting documents. The hospital issues any treatment invitation; the relevant authority decides the visa application.

While you are here

Arrival & accommodationWe provide information and help communicate with third-party providers. You agree the booking and pay the provider directly.

On-site interpretingClinics, scans, consent conversations, ward rounds. Someone beside you who speaks both.

Admission & dischargeWe assist with communication and documents for admission and discharge. You pay hospital deposits and medical bills directly to the hospital.

After you fly home

Follow-up correspondenceWithin the agreed scope, we help translate follow-up questions and hospital replies. Medical follow-up remains with your treating team.

What each of these costs →

Cross-border medical services

Plan around your visit

Once hospital arrangements are confirmed, we can help coordinate transfers, accommodation and language support around your schedule. You contract with and pay the providers directly.

Make room for China

Where your schedule allows, we can introduce you to licensed travel providers for city visits, cultural experiences and activities for accompanying family members. Ask your treating clinician about any health-related travel restrictions.

Plan your medical visit

The work itself

This is what a translation from us looks like.

Not marketing, the actual product. Original values kept with their units and reference ranges, conversions beside them, dates rendered unambiguously, and unfavourable findings translated with everything else.

How to prepare your records →

RECORD TRANSLATION · SAMPLE

Date on original03/04/2026

Rendered as2026-04-03

Fasting glucose126 mg/dL

Converted≈ 7.0 mmol/L

Original values and units are kept; conversions sit beside them. Anything ambiguous is flagged, never guessed.

Unfavourable findings
translated too

Start where you are

Wherever you are in the decision, start here.

A laboratory autosampler with sample vials

JUST EXPLORING

Understand the system first

Records, visas, bills, insurance: six guides, every claim sourced. Read before anyone asks you for anything.

Read the guides →

I HAVE A DIAGNOSIS

See procedures & indicative costs

25 procedures with honest price bands, typical stays, and what actually moves the total.

Browse procedures →

READY TO ASK

See the process, then write to us

Eight stages, who does what, and our published fees. The first reply is free and written by a person.

See how it works →

Most asked about

Four procedures, priced honestly.

¥170k–330k / course Proton & heavy-ion therapyOncology6–8 weeks outpatientDetails →

¥60k–100k Total knee replacementOrthopaedics5–7 nightsDetails →

¥8k–30k / eye Cataract with premium IOLOphthalmologyDay caseDetails →

¥3k–6k Gastro + colonoscopyScreeningDay caseDetails →

All 25 procedures, with indicative bands →

Names you will hear

The hospitals people ask us about, most.

All are top-graded institutions in the official national register, which we publish in full. We are affiliated with none of them, arrange nothing on their behalf, and rank nothing; whether any accepts a case is theirs alone to decide.

Peking Union Medical College HospitalFuwai HospitalZhongshan Hospital (Fudan)Ruijin Hospital (SJTU)West China Hospital (Sichuan)The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University

Search the full register of 2,039 institutions →

Price context

The same item, priced honestly.

Published international-department prices set against typical international private-market prices. Context, never a promise of savings, and never a quote.

Item	Beijing intl. dept.	International
Whole-body PET-CT	$2,200	$5,000–10,000
3.0T brain MRI	$800	$2,800–3,500
Sedated gastro + colonoscopy	$520	$1,200–1,800
Total knee replacement	¥60k–100k	$35,000–50,000

The full comparison, with the honest caveats →

What we charge

Our own fee, published too.

Our fees pay for our coordination and language services. Medical bills, accommodation, transport and optional travel are separate costs. Translation and interpreting rates are listed below; other coordination work is quoted in writing for the agreed scope.

Record translation · Standard

$320

A single episode of care, or a check-up request, up to roughly 10 pages. Includes submission to the institution and full translation of its reply.

Record translation · Comprehensive

$680

One condition, complete history, roughly 10–30 pages. Submission and full translation of the reply included.

On-site interpretation

$280per day

Up to 8 hours. Half day $180, which is the minimum booking. Invoiced after the days are used, never before.

Complex files, refunds and how payment works →

Time context

The waiting you already know about.

Official measures of how long non-urgent care takes where many of our readers live. Each row measures something different, so they are not comparable with one another, read the middle column before the number.

Where	What is actually measured	Latest published
EnglandNHS England	Median wait, referral to start of consultant-led treatment	12.0 weeks
EnglandNHS England	92nd percentile, the long tail behind that median	38.4 weeks
EnglandNHS England	Pathways where the patient has waited over 52 weeks	111,379
CanadaFraser Institute	Median, GP referral to treatment, physician survey, not a government count	28.6 weeks
AustraliaAIHW	Median, entry on the list to admission for elective surgery	45 days
AustraliaAIHW	90th percentile for the same measure	329 days

Appointment timing is confirmed by the hospital

Appointment availability depends on the receiving hospital and the case. We request confirmation from the hospital and share its response with you before you make travel plans. We do not guarantee an appointment date or a waiting time.

Sources, checked 16 September 2026: NHS England RTT waiting times, July 2026 data published 10 September 2026 · Fraser Institute, Waiting Your Turn 2025 · AIHW elective surgery waiting times, 2024–25.

How it works