Beijing hospitals abolish 'Quick Clinics" in favour of GPs

by Michael Woodhead

Beijing hospitals have angered many patients by abolishing the so called "Convenience Clinics" that provide prescriptions for outpatients.
A legacy of the early 1980s reforms, the Outpatient Prescription clinics have been cancelled because they represent a poor model of care, according to health authorities. Without a proper diagnosis or review, the clinics are little more than glorified drug dealers, say doctors.

Notices went up to say that the Convenience Clinics will be abolished from September 1, with the main reason being that they are at odds with rational use of medicine and pose a risk of medication-related problems, especially for children. Health authorities said drug prescribing had changed enormously since the 1980s, and it was no longer appropriate to offer prescriptions without a review. Prescriptions might now involved multiple drugs and more complex drug treatments with narrow margins of safety, prescribed by different specialists. It was therefore a hazard to have them re-issued without a check on the patient's condition.

If patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension want a simple repeat of their prescription they should make an appointment with the new "general practitioners" rather than waiting a long time to see a specialist. The doctor can then review their condition to see if it has changed and to tailor therapy according to response. There were also cases where the patient did not even attend the "Convenience Clinic", but sent a family member instead. According to the Beijing Daily, hospitals said they wanted their specialist clinics to be reserved for more severe disease, with simpler ailments and repeat prescriptions handled by general practitioners.

Chinese rush to buy non-prescription drugs overseas

As more Chinese tourists travel overseas, they are also bringing back non-prescription drugs and vitamin supplements purchased on their trips, the Chinese-language Guangzhou Daily reported.
Many people in China are firm believers in taking drugs and supplements for their health, which is why such products often appeared on their shopping lists when they go abroad, the newspaper said.
Vitamin supplements sold in Europe are highly sought-after, such as Altapharma products, which can be found in several supermarket chains in Germany, the newspaper said. Another popular European drug is Fluimucil A, which is used to treat wet coughs.
Besides vitamins, most medicinal products bought by Chinese visitors to Japan are those used for children, including cold medicine, cooling sheets for children with a fever, and seirogan — a drug used to treat digestive problems.
Japan is also well-known for selling a vast variety of patches that ease muscle soreness, including those that create a cooling effect and those which produce a warm sensation. Compared with similar products in China that often give off a bad odor, the Japanese versions are easy to peel away and are scented, the newspaper said.
Several drugs sold in Thailand are also popular among Chinese visitors, including Siribuncha's and Povidone-lodine's solution for treating burns and cuts, and Ya Hom Powder of Five Pagodas Pharmacy, which can be used for treating stomach ailments and motion sickness.
Another popular product sold in several Southeast Asian countries is Tiger Balm, an ointment used for treating bug bites, headaches, a stuffy nose, motion sickness and sore muscles as well as sundry other purposes.
Source: Want China Times

China health reform must tackle medicines pricing and markups

China’s medical care reform will enter a very difficult stage in the coming years.

Authorities must distribute the resources more fairly. But this is also related to the interests of some parties in the fields of medicine production and sales.

For example, the medicines sold and prescribed by public hospitals are all purchased under a provincial-level collective purchasing system. Hospitals can sell the medicines up to 15 percent higher than the collective purchasing prices.

Even after China lowered medicine prices in the collective purchasing system more than 20 times in the past 10 years, medicine prices in some public hospitals remain high.

The collective purchasing system gives the bargaining rights to the buyers. But most buyers, who are representatives of hospitals, are reluctant to exercise those rights.

The hospitals profit from the 15 percent price increase from the benchmark prices. So the purchasing representatives have enough reasons to keep the collective purchasing prices high.

All parties benefit from the deal, except the patients.

China must deepen the medical care reform by changing the medicines pricing mechanism. That would benefit patients and lower the costs of medical care.

Read more: China Daily

The three aims of China's health reforms: universal health coverage, essential drugs and public hospital reform

On November 12th in Beijing,  Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhu Zhixin said at a press conference during the "12th Five-Year" period of health reform is mainly focused on three aspects:
First, a sound system of universal health care,
Second, to consolidate and improve the new mechanism of an essential drugs system
Thirdly, the grass-roots to actively promote the reform of public hospitals. 　　
Director Zhu Zhixin said that in large city hospitals it is becoming more difficult to see a doctor and more expensive. In addition, medical insurance cover is still at a relatively low level, and there is growing demand for health care, thus there is a "gap".
Therefore health reforms should focus on promoting the reform of public hospitals, especially focusing on the implementation of  comprehensive reform to county hospitals, and strive to meet the target of 90% of people at county level able to access a doctor.
Large urban hospital reform is also needed to get rid of the drug mark ups when doctors prescribe  , and the full implementation of the measures to a lower mass medical burden and more convenience for people to see a doctor for medical treatment. 　　
For the doctor-patient conflicts, said Zhu Zhixin, mainly triggered medicine doctors fill deep-seated contradictions. The key is to strengthen the doctor-patient communication, health literacy in the whole society to create a good habit of respect for medical professionals and rational treatment of disease. He stressed, it is necessary to safeguard the interests of health care workers and patients, and violations that harm the personal safety of medical staff and medical institutions and property damage offenses should be punishable by law.
Read more: MD Tech

Public hospitals drop medicines mark-up to avoid overmedication

Some hospitals have trailed a medical care service fee and eliminated the 15 percent drug mark-up. Such reform aims to separate hospital's income from medical treatment and prescription medicine. Since the reform started in the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital in September, their statistic shows that patients' medical cost has been decreased, while the income of doctors is on the rise.

Read more - CRI

Africa the largest export market for medicines from China

Africa has become the largest export market for medicine made by China and one of the fastest-growing markets for Chinese medical products, a senior medical official said on Saturday at an ongoing import-export fair in south China's Guangdong Province. Statistics released on Friday by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicine & Health Products showed the value of medical products exported from China to Africa from January to September this year totaled 1.47 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 13.48 percent year on year. Read more - All Africa.com

Medicine price reform is necessary

Some Chinese cities piloting the medicine-pricing reform are giving State-run hospitals the right to negotiate their own medicine prices, says an article in 21st Century Business Herald:
Under the collective medicine purchasing system in China, which has been used for years, medicines are purchased by provincial medical authorities, and all local public hospitals in the province can sell medicine to patients at only 15 percent over the collective purchasing price when they sell the medicine to patients.
Although China has lowered medicine prices in the collective purchasing system more than 20 times in the past 10 years, medicine prices in some public hospitals are still high. The collective purchasing system should have given more bargaining rights to buyers. But most of the provincial buyers are representatives from big hospitals in the provinces, even if the purchasing process is organized by governments. Read more - China Daily