Hello,
is it possible to find european MEDICINE in Kunming ?
do you know any place to buy it ?
thanks very much

The green medicine shops that are at every corner of the city and that say Health Store usually have Western medicine (bayer, gsk...)

The medicine store on Nanping Square across from the new Era Hotel downtown usually has a good medicine selection and they had a PDR to look up meds.

Most large pharmacies have an OTC section. As mentioned above, the large store on Nanping Jie has a pretty good selection.

Ask for the Yàopǐn zìdiǎn, 药品字典, to get the Chinese name/brand. You can look up by trade name or generic name. Not many will be imported but made in China under license.

At neighborhood pharmacies check the expiration dates for each and all meds you buy. Carefully check the composition of the meds. If you are experienced with your meds it isn't too hard to figure out the label.

Prices seem to be fixed. I tried shopping around but all pharmacies charged the same price.

Vitamins and supplements are extremely expensive. Some 100 mg Vitamin C tabs contain as little as 11 mg of C.

obiwan: pharmacies all over the place sell it.

@Alien: Not true! You provide a overall, general answer but I can assure you this is not the case.

I go downtown because I can't get what I am looking for nearby. I have also been offered out of date meds in Kunming and Beijing. More than once, when I refuse the out of date meds, I have been offered a discount.

I travel several times a year to Beijing to buy prescription meds not for sale in Kunming. Been doing this for many years.

Well, okay, maybe the particular prescription meds you want are scarce. My guess would be that if you consult a doctor at the Kunming #1 or #2 hospitals here you will be prescribed meds that at least the pharmacies inside the hospitals will have. I don't know about Beijing, but Hong Kong is closer and it seems to me virtually everything is available there, although it seems that, unsurprisingly, they don't honor prescriptions from doctors in other countries. However, seeing a doctor in Hong Kong to get a prescription is going to cost you a lot more.

Alien, please, I live with my health condition, have for 19 years, 12 of them in China. I have signed in at hospitals in Kunming and, aside from the pushing, shoving and yelling, they are pretty bad. I have been to Hong Kong and Bangkok seeking competent medical care and found them both pushing unnecessary tests and procedures and pretty much US prices.

In Beijing, I go to Běijīng xiéhé yīyuàn, 北京协和医院, possibly the best hospital in China. After 11 years they know me and the cardiologists I see are western trained. It ain't cheap but I can get the meds I need and I don't get jerked around.

In Kunming, a "famous" cardiologist wanted to change my medications without any tests after listening to my heart and taking my pulse, for about 5 minutes. No history, no ECG, no blood work. Western medicine is too dangerous I was told.

thanks you so much, i will try the large store on Nanping Jie ;)

another option is to first find the medicines name in Chinese then call the bigger hospitals in Kunming to see if they have it. Then go to that hospital and pay the registration fee to tell the doctor to prescribe that medicine for you.

But I would try the chemist Long Dragon recommends first. Just prepare to push them to really check if they have your meds and select the one with the longest shelf life as they may try to pass you something that exipres soon.