I wouldn't use the word primitive, but inconsistent, non-patient-focused and underfunded in many places.

Larger cities can have excellent treatment, smaller cities less so. After a car accident I had pin-hole surgery on a badly broken collar bone (three pieces and several fragments) and only afterwards discovered the lead surgeon was internationally published in leading journals for his work, and the second surgeon would soon be departing for Northern Europe for a 2 year secondment to complete his PhD. Physiotherapy with minimal but sufficient. After-patient care consisted of being invited to dinners with other ex-patients for sharing over dinner, which is very unlike the West.

Certainly I was fortunate and the vast majority of care is not like this, which is why I don't use the word 'primitive' but prefer 'inconsistent'. The doctors described hospitals more like factories: There's a lot of throughput. He chuckled "You get lots of practice, but the focus is on how to do things better."

Edit: When I say 'not patient focused' here's a typical process flow:

1. Go to ER. Have a friend, family member or colleague pay a fee for consultation for a General Practitioner, and specify Chinese Medicine or Western Medicine GP.

2. Wait to see the GP, usually in a queue or ticketing system. There's a nurse on front desk and if it's obvious and urgent you'll be fast-tracked.

3. See the GP. They'll have some idea and request further work, like an X-Ray, Blood Test, CT Scan, etc. That's all in ER. Have the friend, family member or colleague pay a fee for that and wait in a queue/ticketing system or get fast-tracked again.

4. Get the results and return to GP for further prognosis. They'll recommend medicine (go to the front desk, pay a fee, etc, then go to a separate part, typically a separate floor, for that), operation, or other work. At this point you're referred to a specialist department and need to make your own way there, or if urgent have a wheelchair or stretcher and nurse take you there.

5. Turn up at the specialist department. Now this varies. For urgent treatment you'll likely be seen immediately, better, larger hospitals work 24/7. For non-urgent there might be a ticketing system. For something like a bone operation as I had there'll be a junior doctor on front-desk who will make a further assessment. If non-urgent and they're busy, schedule a few days later.

6. A ward consists of several rooms, typical Marie-Curie design with a central lift block and wards coming off from that. Rooms are rarely individual, if fortunate you'll have 2 to a room, sometime 8 or more. Some pre-op, some post-op. Nurses don't do a lot other than administer drips, observe, and escalate to the doctor on-call. For stuff like getting in or out of bed when you can't walk, friends, family or colleagues are there for that. Often you'll see family members on rotation with a small chair or camper bed next to the patient. You can also hire private unskilled unqualified helpers.

How to choose a hospital: Always go with a Medical University. It's a rule-of-thumb the world over and especially true in China. They have the most experienced, best qualified, best paid (outside of a handful of private international hospitals in Shanghai/Beijing/etc) doctors. If there's a #1, #2, #3 etc affiliated hospital, go to the #1, if that's too far, go down the numbering system until distance/urgency tradeoff works best. If you're out in the countryside, the quality of the care isn't likely to be the best.

Sorry, wrote quite a lot there. Thought it would be interesting to share with Hacker News as most readers here probably won't have had experiences with hospitals in China.

In the crisis like Wuhan at the moment I imagine they'd be incredibly overworked.