I'm ambivalent - there's good and bad in all - evangelical Christians are just another population metric. As for praying for myself or my family - I'd REALLY prefer NOT to pop up on god's radar (like the pharaoh of Egypt and a long list of other non-believing or just disobedient biblical greats). The effects can be severely challenging...if you believe in those kinds of things.

BBinKMG wrote: "I already jumped to the reasonable conclusion that the medical care would likely be substandard based on who the practitioners are."

What utter bigotry! Just exactly the same thing prejudiced people have said about Blacks, Jews and homosexuals.

So because of their personal beliefs, Newton's physics, Linnaeus' classification system, Faraday's dynamo, George Washington Carver's botany, and R. V. Damadian's MRI were all "substandard"?

Grow up.

I've just come back from the clinic after suffering from a rather nasty stomach virus. The staff were friendly and professional (clean facilities, sterilisation) and except for some of the staff practicing Christmas carols no one tried to proselytise to me. I'm not a Christian but it seems some of the posters here are being a little picky. I too dislike aggressive missionaries and I do believe its possible to be moral without being religious but if this clinic is the only western speaking one around and it happens to be run by Christians then if it offends you that much put in the time at med school and set up your own.

Incidentally, I have nothing against Chinese doctors - aside from language my primary concern this time around was the state of the clinic/hospital. The last time I had stomach troubles the filthiness (and thats not an exaggeration) of the facilities infuriated me especially since someone somewhere was no doubt making money out of the place and I doubt it was the doctors.

We have taken our kids a few times over the past years to the clinic for a variety of medical issues and have been happy with the advice received.

Its the best option for GP services offered in English in Kunming. They don't seem to have a licence to do anything other than consultations, so no stitches etc.

Its run by a Christian group, they are a nice enough lot, but if you don't want to spend your Sundays with them in church then that's up to you.

For English language medical advice its the best, if not only option available in Kunming,,,plus the price is no more than what you pay in a Chinese hospital.

If you have the need for a GP and dont have a Chinese spouse/friend to help in a Chinese hospital enviroment then this is a good first option.

The clinic has now moved to a different address from the one posted above. I haven't been to the new location yet, but the new address info I received was:

"Kunming International Clinic has moved. We are located on the first floor of the Yunnan Kidney Hospital (云南肾脏病医院) at the northwest intersection of Xi Yuan Lu(西园路) and Qi Xiang Lu(气象路) near the old KIA campus in Yan Jia Di Xiao Qu(严家地小区). To make an appointment, please call our office number (411-9100) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thank you for your patience with us as we renovate our new facility."

It sounds as though it should be a bit easier to find now. I think at the moment they are still on Spring Festival break though.

I've been here a few times now and always friendly, helpful and honest. Beats your typical Chinese hospital by a mile, if a little more expensive of course. However, with the fees going to a good cause it's worth every mao.

what good cause are the fees going to, pray tell? (cheesy pun shamefully intended)

@Magnifico
"Providing and subsidizing medical care for the poor", according to their literature. I was seen by an Irish doctor who told me her main vocation in Kunming is treatment of AIDS victims.

Earlier this week I turned up without an appointment, after a very painful night. I was seen within 20 minutes by a helpful (English speaking) doctor and within an hour of arriving I was heading home with the necessary meds in hand. How I wish Chinese hospitals were that efficient and trustworthy. If the Clinic had a "page" on GoK I'd give them 5*.

[For those posters above with a dislike of religion/missionaries, I'm not a Christian, and God/prayer was never once been brought up on my 5+ visits]

1 - Christian charitable organizations' MAIN goal is promoting Christianity above all else. Promoting humanitarianism is secondary. To me, it's like the Chinese girls who try to get hitched up with foreigners for a visa. Technically, marriage is a good thing. But depends why you're doing it.

2 - Where are these organizations getting the funding to open clinics in the first place? I come from a Catholic background. Every Sunday at Church we had to put money in that basket. I'm sure some of it got to the needy. But the Churches were lavish and they owned a helluva lot of real estate, never paid taxes. And let's face it. We were paying for that priest's living. He was babbling some incomprehensible nonsense every Sunday acting holy and he had a job for life at our expense.

As long as you feel better and get out alive, that's all that matters.