I found the schedule a bit confusing. It seems like VIP and free get the same amount of episodes?
The schedule is only for Youku VIPs and Jiangsu and Zhejiang TV channel viewers. Currently, it's not available for free in China. For international viwers, I guess it depends on platforms such as Viki's own schedule. Aslo maybe Jiangsu TV's Youtube channel may update it (not sure about this, but they updated Ashes of Love, another drama that they aired).
The novel didn't have an ending. The actual ending will be included in the newest edition of the book which will be published on 18th of this month (As far as I know, it's happy ending).
Upadate: Thank You Doctor will be airing on CCTV 8 and the date is said to be Nov 4. It's a sudden dicision and the other two TV Channels that are supposed to be air this drama will air it at a later date.
What a surprise! But nowadays the airing of a drama is so unpreditable that untill the actual moment of airing, nobody can be sure. Good news is that CCTV Drama's weibo page has begun to promote this drama as theirs (also saying it's coming soon), so even if the date is not Nov 4, it'll sure be aired there (https://weibo.com/2030112487/McgtZ005z).
SAHPH took so long to be aired, at first, it was because they wanted it to be aired on TV channels, but it turned out difficult (because "main-theme" dramas are prioritised). But now that they have decided to air it as a web drama alone. The streaming platform can make it available any time.
The reason they postponed it this time is only because there is some big political event, so it is not a good time for the promotion of the drama (not a good idea to be too popular and occupying public resources). The political event will end by the end of this October so should SAHPH air by then without problem.
Update: From now on until October (maybe lasting even longer), all the major TV channels will be airing "main theme" dramas (dramas supported by the gov). I was hoping that Thank You Doctor could be considered as one of them because it's medical themed. But it is not.
For instance, Jiangsu TV (one of the owners of this drama) has already two "main theme" dramas planned ahead starting from Sep 25th ("Fei Teng Ren Sheng" 40 eps, "Bright Future" 30 eps).
So, I guess the earliest date for the airing of this drama is November this year (iQiyi listed its date as Q4 in their latest event).
Zhejiang TV's new drama starts to air on Sep 5th and ends its run on Sep 22th (no official announcement yet, the date is my calculation based on Zhejiang TV's regular airing schedule); while Jiangsu TV's current drama ends its run on Sep 20th (official). So the schedule of these two channels will coincide at the end of this month. I think there's a likelihood that Thank You Doctor is the drama to be aired by that time (Sep. 23rd).
In any case, on Sep 6th Zhejiang TV will hold its drama fair. Hopefully they can release some new materials about this drama.
Actor Li Dongheng posted on weibo on Aug 3rd about him finishing the dubbing of the drama (https://weibo.com/1274104135/LFjHsdXh1). Modern dramas normally use location sound recording and don't have a large amount of dubbing to do, so the most likely case is that the reviewers (who approve the airing licence of the drama) think that some lines in the drama need to be modified, in that case, the actors go to the studio to record these modified lines. Judging by this, the drama should have done its post-production and it's waiting for its airing licence.
Also NRTA of China (who's in charge of reviewing dramas and issueing licences) has listed this drama as one of the important dramas to be aired the 2nd half of this year in one of their articles.
iq.com or iQiyi english app should release it with multiple subs at the same time (starting from April 27th 7:30…
The date is revealed by ZSDC Media (an advertising agent that's fully in charge of CCTV 8's ad business) and CCTV.com's weibo account also confirmed it, so it's reliable. As to official announcement, someone discovered the day before yesterday there appeared a new hidden weibo post on the drama's official account yet to be published, it should be revealed in upcoming days.
What a surprise! But nowadays the airing of a drama is so unpreditable that untill the actual moment of airing, nobody can be sure. Good news is that CCTV Drama's weibo page has begun to promote this drama as theirs (also saying it's coming soon), so even if the date is not Nov 4, it'll sure be aired there (https://weibo.com/2030112487/McgtZ005z).
The reason they postponed it this time is only because there is some big political event, so it is not a good time for the promotion of the drama (not a good idea to be too popular and occupying public resources). The political event will end by the end of this October so should SAHPH air by then without problem.
For instance, Jiangsu TV (one of the owners of this drama) has already two "main theme" dramas planned ahead starting from Sep 25th ("Fei Teng Ren Sheng" 40 eps, "Bright Future" 30 eps).
So, I guess the earliest date for the airing of this drama is November this year (iQiyi listed its date as Q4 in their latest event).
In any case, on Sep 6th Zhejiang TV will hold its drama fair. Hopefully they can release some new materials about this drama.
Also NRTA of China (who's in charge of reviewing dramas and issueing licences) has listed this drama as one of the important dramas to be aired the 2nd half of this year in one of their articles.