China will establish a unified national system on the
production, procurement and distribution of essential medicines in
order to benefit ordinary people, according to the national health
work conference held in Beijing Monday.
Health Minister Gao Qiang said at the meeting that China will
frame an essential medicine catalog following different criteria,
namely safety, effectiveness, need and cheapness. It will also
gradually standardize the titles and prices of the same products
across the country to ensure the supply of essential medicines and
lower medicinal prices. To achieve this, the government will
regulate the production and circulation of medicines, and tighten
control on the market entry of both pharmaceutical manufacturers
and their products.
Gao further highlighted the construction of a nationwide basic
medical and health system, aiming to provide multi-tiered medical
care and public health services.
According to him, public health institutions such as centers for
disease control and prevention, rural clinics and hospitals, and
urban community hospitals will be funded by the government to
provide all residents with free public health service and
low-priced primary medical service.
Medical insurance system will also be improved to help those
with severe illnesses get timely medical treatment, Gao added.
On hospital management, Gao said that hospitals will be
classified into profit-making and non-profit-making ones in the
future and different policies will be adopted toward them to
maintain the latter's nature as a public welfare undertaking.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health will regulate public hospitals'
income and expense management to prevent blind enlargement of
scales, increasing income and pursuing profits at all
costs.?
In the rural area, the plan for 2007 is to expand the coverage
of the cooperative medical service system to cover 80 percent of
China's counties, thus benefiting more poor farmers.
(China.org.cn by Li Shen, January 10, 2007)