I will not easily forget the first time I entered a Chinese hospital, a few years ago - and not just because I was ferrying my pregnant wife into the maternity ward in the freezing pre-dawn hours of a Shanghai winter.

The hospital refused to allow us into the ward until I lined up at what looked like a railway ticket sales booth and paid Rmb30,000 ($4,000). I was lucky to be able to use a credit card. Most hospitals demand cash up front.