The challenge of providing health care for one point three billion people can hardly be understated.

China's 200 - million poor are often unable to afford quality medical care, and instead turn to illegal practices.

Andrew Livingstone reports on the challenge to crack down on China's black clinics.

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Caitlin Rhodes invites an ER doctor and a Chinese medicine intern to compare the two approaches to health care in China.

About our guests:

Dr. Joe Passanante, of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the few board certified emergency physicians practicing in Beijing.  In addition to treating patients at Beijing United Family Hospital, during the Olympics he also served in the President's motorcade with the White House Medical Unit, and co-directed a medical unit for NBC in the Olympic Village.

Bryan McMahon, of Connecticut, parlayed his study of Japanese and Chinese languages into an independent Monbusho scholarship at Kyoto University in Japan in 2001, where he  began his study of Taijiquan.  In 2004, he moved to Beijing in order to find authentic Chen Style instruction for the Chinese martial art, and enrolled in Beijing University of Traditional Chinese medicine.  He is now completing the fifth and final year of his acupuncture and herbal medicine degree, with a focus in modern clinical applications of ancient Chinese medical and spiritual wisdom.

Caitlin Rhodes invites an ER doctor and a Chinese medicine intern to compare the two approaches to health care in China.

About our guests:

Dr. Joe Passanante, of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the few board certified emergency physicians practicing in Beijing.  In addition to treating patients at Beijing United Family Hospital, during the Olympics he also served in the President's motorcade with the White House Medical Unit, and co-directed a medical unit for NBC in the Olympic Village.

Bryan McMahon, of Connecticut, parlayed his study of Japanese and Chinese languages into an independent Monbusho scholarship at Kyoto University in Japan in 2001, where he  began his study of Taijiquan.  In 2004, he moved to Beijing in order to find authentic Chen Style instruction for the Chinese martial art, and enrolled in Beijing University of Traditional Chinese medicine.  He is now completing the fifth and final year of his acupuncture and herbal medicine degree, with a focus in modern clinical applications of ancient Chinese medical and spiritual wisdom.

In the wake of the SARS epidemic in 2003, the Chinese Healthcare system underwent a lot of soul searching, and as anyone who's tried to enter the country recently will have noticed, health policy now borders on paranoia.

Andrew Livingstone reports on one case where the hospital went too far…

A child with a serious medical problem that doctors can't solve and can't explain. It may sound clichéd to say it, but it truly is every parent's worst nightmare. One family in China's central Shaanxi province is dealing with just that, but there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

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