Officials and experts are calling on China to establish a State-level drug policy for the better administration of drugs and healthcare.

A State-level drug policy would target the comprehensive administration of drug research, production, marketing, consumption and pricing.

In China, drug affairs are overseen by regulations made by nine departments under the State Council, said Wu Yongpei, a pharmacy expert of the National Institute of Hospital Administration.

The absence of necessary policies and poor coordination between different departments have become main reasons for the drug-related problems being seen today, said Yan Min, director of the Department of Drug Safety and Inspection of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

These problems include runaway and random competition in the drug market, high prices, medicine abuse, and a shortage of basic medication in rural areas.

Yan said her administration has proposed the establishment of a State drug policy.

To improve the basic medicine regulation is a key part of the State-level policy, said Yan.

Raised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1975, the concept of basic drugs aims to ensure the public can get all necessary safe and effective drugs at comparatively low prices.

Like another 159 countries and regions around the world, China now has its own list of basic drugs.

The list includes 759 kinds of Western medicine and 1,242 varieties of traditional Chinese medicine.

However, in China, the basic medicine regulation is just an initial step and only focuses on making a list without related essential rules, said Yan.

For example, the majority of these listed medicines are cheap, but for those drugs with little profit and that combat rare diseases, the State has no subsidizing policies.

Meanwhile, there are no measures urging doctors to use the drugs rationally, nor ask for the medical insurance fee.

Medicine abuse has become a serious problem in China, where more than 80 per cent of rural residents, and about 40 per cent of urban people have no medical insurance, experts said.

Medicines covered by medical insurance are not listed according to the State list of basic medicines, which was put together by the SFDA.

The medical insurance system's drug list is made by the social security department, and includes 2,960 kinds of drugs.

The two lists have many of the same medicines, leading many to think the formulation of two lists was a waste of time and money.

The list of basic medicines should be enlarged and be the same as the one covered by medical insurance, said Zhou Chaofan, a well-known pharmacy expert in China.

China has approved 14,000 kinds of drugs to be marketed, but only 2,001 have been listed as basic medicines, and only 2,960 are covered by medical insurance.

A State-level drug policy needs to give more financial and other support so more drugs are made available to more people, said Zhou.

To formulate such a drug policy, a group should be established under the State Council to coordinate the different departments, Yan said.

(China Daily April 15, 2005)