The UK and Chinese Governments are working together to improve global health policy and outcomes for developing countries, with the launch in Beijing of a new UK-China partnership on global health.
The UK and Chinese Governments will collaborate under a new initiative, the Global Health Support Programme. The programme will build capacity for DFID and low income countries to learn lessons from China’s unparalleled success in reducing infant, child and maternal mortality rates, disease prevention and control, and China’s health development and health sector reform. The programme will also help to improve China’s capacity to contribute to global health. The programme will run until September 2017, with a UK investment of £12 million to provide a technical contribution and implementation support, and a Chinese contribution of health expertise and facilities. The Ministry of Health’s Centre for Project Supervision and Management will provide programme management.
The programme sits under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2011 by the British and the Chinese Governments, which established a new partnership to work together on shared international development objectives to reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This is the third programme launched under the partnership.
The new programme will support pilot partnerships between the UK, China and developing countries. The pilots will seek to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes in developing countries. The programme will include a high-level annual dialogue between China and the UK to work collaboratively on issues of common interest in global health governance and architecture and international health priorities.
The programme was launched by Dr. Yin Li, Chinese Vice Minister of Health, Ms. Joy Hutcheon, Director General of the UK Department for International Development and Deputy Director General Sun Yuanjiang of the Ministry of Commerce. Around 120 people attended the launch.
“With the progress of globalization, all the countries should work together to respond to global health security and development issues,” said Dr Yin Li, Chinese Vice Minister of Health, “the launch of China-UK Global Health Support Programme ushers the China-UK cooperation into a new stage and also provides a major opportunity for China to play a more significant role in global health affairs.”
“The Global Health Support Programme demonstrates the common interest of China and the UK in contributing to improved health outcomes for the poor,” said Ms Hutcheon, “and provides a platform for our two countries to develop common solutions to global issues.”
Health outcomes for poor people across the world are under pressure from the dual burden of communicable and non-communicable disease, demographic change, urbanisation and new infectious diseases. China is already an important contributor to global health efforts, and as a board member of the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. The launch of the Global Health Support Programme demonstrates China and the UK’s shared commitment to strengthen further global health through innovation and collaboration.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
China tells WHO that traditional medicine will help overcome antibiotic resistance problem
China's position at WHO meeting on antibiotic resistance:
"Every person alive today has benefited from the development of antimicrobial drugs but their effectiveness is under threat. Studies in China show a frightening increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as MRSA. In China, 6.8 percent of tuberculosis cases detected are multi-drug-resistant, far higher than the 2 percent average in most developed countries. Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats which increase the chance of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. China's Ministry of Health has enforced strict rules to curb the widespread overuse of antibiotics in hospitals. Antibiotics will now be classified into three categories for restricted, unrestricted and special use, based on factors such as safety, efficacy, price and drug resistance. All the patients using antibiotics must complete their course to prevent bacteria to become resistant. All antibiotics should be made under high standards so that they are effective against the bacteria. Hospitals are usually known as the sources of all diseases .Codes of practice have been drawn up for doctors, nurses and health care workers to prevent the spread of Hospital acquired infections. Good hygiene within hospitals can have a major impact on HAIs such as doctors washing their hands.Guidelines about the clothing the doctors and other staff should wear also prevent spreading of diseases. China believes that using Chinese herbs is an alternative to antibiotics as it has the same aim as antibiotics to cure the patient. The proper use of Chinese herbal formulas can not only inhibit bacterial, viral and fungal infections, but also minimize the need for antibiotics with their adverse side effects.Scientist are still carrying out tests to know exactly how effective they are at destroying bacteria. The delegate of China believes that if all these precautionary measures are taken less number of bacteria’s will become resistant to antibiotics and reduced number of people will be affected by these diseases reducing the threat to humanity."
Source: Admun
"Every person alive today has benefited from the development of antimicrobial drugs but their effectiveness is under threat. Studies in China show a frightening increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as MRSA. In China, 6.8 percent of tuberculosis cases detected are multi-drug-resistant, far higher than the 2 percent average in most developed countries. Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats which increase the chance of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. China's Ministry of Health has enforced strict rules to curb the widespread overuse of antibiotics in hospitals. Antibiotics will now be classified into three categories for restricted, unrestricted and special use, based on factors such as safety, efficacy, price and drug resistance. All the patients using antibiotics must complete their course to prevent bacteria to become resistant. All antibiotics should be made under high standards so that they are effective against the bacteria. Hospitals are usually known as the sources of all diseases .Codes of practice have been drawn up for doctors, nurses and health care workers to prevent the spread of Hospital acquired infections. Good hygiene within hospitals can have a major impact on HAIs such as doctors washing their hands.Guidelines about the clothing the doctors and other staff should wear also prevent spreading of diseases. China believes that using Chinese herbs is an alternative to antibiotics as it has the same aim as antibiotics to cure the patient. The proper use of Chinese herbal formulas can not only inhibit bacterial, viral and fungal infections, but also minimize the need for antibiotics with their adverse side effects.Scientist are still carrying out tests to know exactly how effective they are at destroying bacteria. The delegate of China believes that if all these precautionary measures are taken less number of bacteria’s will become resistant to antibiotics and reduced number of people will be affected by these diseases reducing the threat to humanity."
Source: Admun
Rehabilitation services suffer from lack of investment, low pay
by Alice Yan
In China, rehabilitation services face increasing demand, but the sector is suffering from a lack of investment and a failure to attract staff.
Seated beside a bed much larger than those usually found in hospital wards, Zhang Xiue looked hopefully at her 72-year-old husband as his legs were bent and stretched time and again by a young female rehabilitation technician.
The old man's journey to the Shanghai No 1 Rehabilitation Hospital started six months ago at their home in Taixing, Jiangsu province, when he had a sudden fall and lapsed into unconsciousness. Even with an operation after his stroke, he still could not move his limbs, speak, or even eat.
Discontented with her husband's recovery, Zhang decided four months ago to move him to this hospital, one of just a handful of dedicated rehabilitation institutions in the city.
"I am glad he can now swallow food - his stomach tube was removed a month after we came here. He can also speak simple words," Zhang said. "He still lies on the bed, and can't sit or walk. But I'm confident my husband's situation will improve."
Zhang said she never had heard of medical rehabilitation before her husband's stroke, and his treatment had rekindled the family's hopes.
In a room next door, Hang Chao , 36, stood with his legs bound to a vertical bed and his arms supported by a table, as part of rehabilitation exercises for a rare nerve condition.
Four weeks previously, after his hands and feet went numb and he could only lie in bed, Hang was treated by a leading general hospital in Shanghai, which recommended a follow-up programme at the rehabilitation institution.
Like Zhang and Hang before illness struck, most mainlanders have little if any idea of rehabilitation and what it can do. This is partly due to the snail's pace at which this relatively new medical field is developing on the mainland, even as officials face the problems associated with an ageing society.
According to Professor Li Jianan , the newly elected president of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, at the end of 2009 there were only about 300 rehabilitation hospitals on the mainland, of which four out of five were not qualified to conduct treatment because of a lack of licensed doctors and technicians. Among the country's 10,000 or more public hospitals, a third have set up rehabilitation departments, many of which stand empty for most of the time.
The Ministry of Health, clearly unaware of the slow growth of rehabilitative medicine, has called time and again for fast and sweeping development of the sector.
In particular, health authorities have called for private capital to be injected into rehabilitation centres and have encouraged most of the country's public Class-B hospitals, those with 101to 500 beds and which serve several communities in a city, to turn themselves into rehabilitation centres in the coming years.
Rehabilitation hospitals, however, have little appeal to investors and hospital management. Luo Zengyong , vice-president of the public Sichuan Rehabilitation Hospital, which was built after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake claimed tens of thousands of lives and left hundreds of thousands injured, said a number of rehabilitation institutions on the mainland were struggling to make ends meet, mainly because the authorities would not allow them to charge fees that came even close to recouping their costs.
"Our prices are so low. For example, we charge just 38 yuan (HK$47) for a 45-minute-long rehabilitation training session for a child with cerebral palsy," Luo said. "Our service is even cheaper than a foot massage."
At his hospital, Luo said a lot of advanced equipment, such as spa rehab tubs, was seldom used. "The more such equipment is used, the more losses we suffer," he said.
"Therefore, although many experts and authorities play up the bright future for rehabilitative medicine in China, very few private businesses are interested in the sector, since they know they will make little if any profit."
Tang Dan , president of the Guangdong Provincial Work Injury Rehabilitation Centre, said the demand for rehab services on the mainland stemmed from the country's ageing society, with its growing ranks of patients with chronic illnesses, and from the injuries caused by accidents and natural disasters.
With the economy thriving, Tang said people had higher expectations for their quality of life, and more turned to rehab treatment and exercises. Patients who might have died before but were now saved by modern medical technology were also big users of rehabilitation services.
He said the fact that only a small number of rehab services were now included in medical insurance schemes had deterred potential operators, given that poor patients could not afford them and that rehab hospitals did not receive many patients.
Li said that years ago he proposed to mainland health and social security authorities who oversee medical insurance arrangements to include 70 rehab services, but they agreed to include just nine items in the insurance scheme. "The authorities seem to think that rehabilitation is a waste of social resources," he said "It clearly is not."
Tang said: "The medical insurance scheme is unreasonable. "Why don't they include a wider range of rehab items? I think policymakers don't see the real benefits rehabilitation provides."
Without more professional rehab training, many patients were doomed to be a burden to their families and society, Tang said. But rehabilitation offered many the hope of partial, if not full, recovery and of becoming contributing members of society.
Li said a common misunderstanding about rehab, not just among ordinary people but doctors and government officials, was that it was a form of relaxation. They fail to see that rehabilitation training involves investment in technology, which costs money, he said.
Since the Shanghai municipal government announced its hope in 2011 that the city's 80 or so Class-B hospitals would switch to rehab services, only one, the former Shanghai Yangpu Geriatric Hospital, had made the transition, with the remainder adopting a "wait-and-see" position.
Wu Xiaotong , president of what is now the Shanghai No1 Rehabilitation Hospital, was optimistic about its prospects.
"Surgery performed by mainland doctors in on par with Western counterparts," he said. "But our patients don't recover as well, and the reason for that is the absence of rehabilitation medicine in China."
"To me, rehabilitation is a new medical frontier on the mainland and full of opportunity."
Wu admitted his hospital was still at a preparatory stage and a severe lack of qualified staff was the biggest obstacle. There are 11 licensed rehabilitation doctors, short of the 60 the health ministry requires for a standard rehabilitation hospital, and just 26 licensed rehab technicians, 94 short of the number the ministry deems necessary.
Li said the shortage of professionals was a bottleneck restricting the development of rehab services on the mainland, where officials expect to see 3,000 rehab hospitals by 2020. He suggested grooming clinical doctors as rehab specialists to help meet the shortfall.
Wu said that to motivate clinical doctors to sit for tests to obtain a licence to practise rehabilitative medicine, he himself had applied to take the test, even though he was a senior orthopaedic specialist, and would attend classes every week with other doctors on his staff.
Zhou Yang , another orthopaedic doctor at the Shanghai Rehabilitation Hospital, said that since changing his practice to rehabilitation his income had fallen by a third, but he felt happy about his future. "The job gives me a sense of achievement and I am highly valued," Zhou said, giving the example of a 12-year-boy who was in a vegetative state four months ago but could now walk, eat and speak following rehab treatment in his ward.
Source: SCMP
In China, rehabilitation services face increasing demand, but the sector is suffering from a lack of investment and a failure to attract staff.
Seated beside a bed much larger than those usually found in hospital wards, Zhang Xiue looked hopefully at her 72-year-old husband as his legs were bent and stretched time and again by a young female rehabilitation technician.
The old man's journey to the Shanghai No 1 Rehabilitation Hospital started six months ago at their home in Taixing, Jiangsu province, when he had a sudden fall and lapsed into unconsciousness. Even with an operation after his stroke, he still could not move his limbs, speak, or even eat.
Discontented with her husband's recovery, Zhang decided four months ago to move him to this hospital, one of just a handful of dedicated rehabilitation institutions in the city.
"I am glad he can now swallow food - his stomach tube was removed a month after we came here. He can also speak simple words," Zhang said. "He still lies on the bed, and can't sit or walk. But I'm confident my husband's situation will improve."
Zhang said she never had heard of medical rehabilitation before her husband's stroke, and his treatment had rekindled the family's hopes.
In a room next door, Hang Chao , 36, stood with his legs bound to a vertical bed and his arms supported by a table, as part of rehabilitation exercises for a rare nerve condition.
Four weeks previously, after his hands and feet went numb and he could only lie in bed, Hang was treated by a leading general hospital in Shanghai, which recommended a follow-up programme at the rehabilitation institution.
Like Zhang and Hang before illness struck, most mainlanders have little if any idea of rehabilitation and what it can do. This is partly due to the snail's pace at which this relatively new medical field is developing on the mainland, even as officials face the problems associated with an ageing society.
According to Professor Li Jianan , the newly elected president of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, at the end of 2009 there were only about 300 rehabilitation hospitals on the mainland, of which four out of five were not qualified to conduct treatment because of a lack of licensed doctors and technicians. Among the country's 10,000 or more public hospitals, a third have set up rehabilitation departments, many of which stand empty for most of the time.
The Ministry of Health, clearly unaware of the slow growth of rehabilitative medicine, has called time and again for fast and sweeping development of the sector.
In particular, health authorities have called for private capital to be injected into rehabilitation centres and have encouraged most of the country's public Class-B hospitals, those with 101to 500 beds and which serve several communities in a city, to turn themselves into rehabilitation centres in the coming years.
Rehabilitation hospitals, however, have little appeal to investors and hospital management. Luo Zengyong , vice-president of the public Sichuan Rehabilitation Hospital, which was built after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake claimed tens of thousands of lives and left hundreds of thousands injured, said a number of rehabilitation institutions on the mainland were struggling to make ends meet, mainly because the authorities would not allow them to charge fees that came even close to recouping their costs.
"Our prices are so low. For example, we charge just 38 yuan (HK$47) for a 45-minute-long rehabilitation training session for a child with cerebral palsy," Luo said. "Our service is even cheaper than a foot massage."
At his hospital, Luo said a lot of advanced equipment, such as spa rehab tubs, was seldom used. "The more such equipment is used, the more losses we suffer," he said.
"Therefore, although many experts and authorities play up the bright future for rehabilitative medicine in China, very few private businesses are interested in the sector, since they know they will make little if any profit."
Tang Dan , president of the Guangdong Provincial Work Injury Rehabilitation Centre, said the demand for rehab services on the mainland stemmed from the country's ageing society, with its growing ranks of patients with chronic illnesses, and from the injuries caused by accidents and natural disasters.
With the economy thriving, Tang said people had higher expectations for their quality of life, and more turned to rehab treatment and exercises. Patients who might have died before but were now saved by modern medical technology were also big users of rehabilitation services.
He said the fact that only a small number of rehab services were now included in medical insurance schemes had deterred potential operators, given that poor patients could not afford them and that rehab hospitals did not receive many patients.
Li said that years ago he proposed to mainland health and social security authorities who oversee medical insurance arrangements to include 70 rehab services, but they agreed to include just nine items in the insurance scheme. "The authorities seem to think that rehabilitation is a waste of social resources," he said "It clearly is not."
Tang said: "The medical insurance scheme is unreasonable. "Why don't they include a wider range of rehab items? I think policymakers don't see the real benefits rehabilitation provides."
Without more professional rehab training, many patients were doomed to be a burden to their families and society, Tang said. But rehabilitation offered many the hope of partial, if not full, recovery and of becoming contributing members of society.
Li said a common misunderstanding about rehab, not just among ordinary people but doctors and government officials, was that it was a form of relaxation. They fail to see that rehabilitation training involves investment in technology, which costs money, he said.
Since the Shanghai municipal government announced its hope in 2011 that the city's 80 or so Class-B hospitals would switch to rehab services, only one, the former Shanghai Yangpu Geriatric Hospital, had made the transition, with the remainder adopting a "wait-and-see" position.
Wu Xiaotong , president of what is now the Shanghai No1 Rehabilitation Hospital, was optimistic about its prospects.
"Surgery performed by mainland doctors in on par with Western counterparts," he said. "But our patients don't recover as well, and the reason for that is the absence of rehabilitation medicine in China."
"To me, rehabilitation is a new medical frontier on the mainland and full of opportunity."
Wu admitted his hospital was still at a preparatory stage and a severe lack of qualified staff was the biggest obstacle. There are 11 licensed rehabilitation doctors, short of the 60 the health ministry requires for a standard rehabilitation hospital, and just 26 licensed rehab technicians, 94 short of the number the ministry deems necessary.
Li said the shortage of professionals was a bottleneck restricting the development of rehab services on the mainland, where officials expect to see 3,000 rehab hospitals by 2020. He suggested grooming clinical doctors as rehab specialists to help meet the shortfall.
Wu said that to motivate clinical doctors to sit for tests to obtain a licence to practise rehabilitative medicine, he himself had applied to take the test, even though he was a senior orthopaedic specialist, and would attend classes every week with other doctors on his staff.
Zhou Yang , another orthopaedic doctor at the Shanghai Rehabilitation Hospital, said that since changing his practice to rehabilitation his income had fallen by a third, but he felt happy about his future. "The job gives me a sense of achievement and I am highly valued," Zhou said, giving the example of a 12-year-boy who was in a vegetative state four months ago but could now walk, eat and speak following rehab treatment in his ward.
Source: SCMP
'Less harmful cigarettes' is deceptive marketing
Chinese tobacco control experts have dismissed the concept that "low-tar cigarettes are less harmful" as a deceptive marketing gimmick.
At an anti-tobacco seminar held by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the anti-smoking advocacy group ThinkTank in Beijing, experts said research by Xie Jianping, a tobacco research academic, was a deception sugar-coated in science and, therefore, very harmful to public health.
They urged authorities to remove Xie from his seat at the elite Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Xie, who has worked for a tobacco research institute under the China National Tobacco Corporation (China Tobacco) for decades, has been the subject of controversy since he was honored with a seat in the CAE in December 2011.
Xie has won several national awards for his research in the tobacco industry, which has been been the subject of fierce debate among the public and in the media.
Xie's research focuses on low-tar and herbal cigarettes, which his institute claims are less harmful than conventional tobacco products.
Experts at the seminar countered his claims by pointing out that his research features a number of errors in terms of its direction, methodology and conclusions.
"His theories were substantially based on junior-level toxicology appraisals, which is not enough to prove that low-tar cigarettes are less harmful," said Zheng Yuxin, an expert with the Chinese Society of Toxicology.
Source: China Daily
At an anti-tobacco seminar held by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the anti-smoking advocacy group ThinkTank in Beijing, experts said research by Xie Jianping, a tobacco research academic, was a deception sugar-coated in science and, therefore, very harmful to public health.
They urged authorities to remove Xie from his seat at the elite Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Xie, who has worked for a tobacco research institute under the China National Tobacco Corporation (China Tobacco) for decades, has been the subject of controversy since he was honored with a seat in the CAE in December 2011.
Xie has won several national awards for his research in the tobacco industry, which has been been the subject of fierce debate among the public and in the media.
Xie's research focuses on low-tar and herbal cigarettes, which his institute claims are less harmful than conventional tobacco products.
Experts at the seminar countered his claims by pointing out that his research features a number of errors in terms of its direction, methodology and conclusions.
"His theories were substantially based on junior-level toxicology appraisals, which is not enough to prove that low-tar cigarettes are less harmful," said Zheng Yuxin, an expert with the Chinese Society of Toxicology.
Source: China Daily
Viewpoint: Financial compensation for deceased organ donation in China
by Dr Qiang Fang, Intensive Care Unit, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou.
In China, about 1.5 million Chinese patients are placed on organ transplant waiting lists each year, yet less than 1% of them have managed to receive an organ.
The gap between the need for and the supply of organs is large—and growing. The Regulation on Human Organ Transplantation strictly stipulates that living organ donation is limited to relatives. The number of organs from executed prisoners is decreasing. In March 2010, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and the Ministry of Health of China jointly launched a pilot programme of deceased organ donation in 10 provinces and cities. This programme marks a turning point in the transplant history of China. By March 2012, there were 207 deceased donors in total. However, with the country's population of 1.3 billion, the deceased donor rate remains significantly lower than in Spain and other Western countries.
In China, the shortage of deceased organ donors is due to a belief that the body should be left intact, a lack of incentive policy to increase the donation rate, and the weakness of programmes promoting voluntary organ donation. Traditional cultural beliefs about the proper disposition of a corpse constitute the major obstacle to deceased organ donation in China. The Confucian tenet of filial piety requires that a body be returned to the ancestors in an intact state and declares that every part of the body that is given by the parents deserves respect. People have also believed for thousands of years that keeping the dead body intact is a way of respecting the dead. These beliefs produce resistance to organ donation. Although nowadays cremation is carried out in many parts of China, most people still insist that the dead body be kept intact before being taken to cremation.
In order to provide incentive for deceased organ donation, five pilot provinces and cities (Zhejiang, Tianjin, Jiangxi, Jinan and Liaoning) have launched a financial compensation policy. We will take Zhejiang Province as an example. Zhejiang Red Cross established the Human Organ Donation Compensation Foundation in March 2012. From March 2010 to March 2012, there were 20 donors. From April 2012 to the end of July, there were 23 donors. During these 4 months, Zhejiang organ donation witnessed rapid growth. Zhejiang Province, with 43 donors, is now rated number 2 of the pilot provinces and cities.
Organ donation can proceed only if one of the following conditions is met: the deceased has expressed a willingness to be an organ donor in either a living will or another written form, and his or her closest relative provides written consent for organ donation, or the potential donor has not expressed opposition to donation before his or her death, and his or her closest relative provides written consent for organ donation.
A characteristic of organ donation in China is that the Red Cross acts as the third party non-profit organisation in implementing the donation policy with the authority of law. In Zhejiang, the Red Cross is responsible for raising and managing funds for financial compensation, thus ensuring that money is used in a fair and legal way. Transplant hospitals are not allowed to be involved in management of the funds. Government appropriation, transplant hospital contributions and charitable donation are the usual sources of funds.
Financial compensation can be considered to include two main forms, the ‘thank you’ form and the ‘help’ form. ‘Thank you’ compensation includes three aspects. First, Zhejiang Red Cross Society will pay for basic funeral expenses, which cover body transportation, cremation and ash urn storage. Then the Society will offer the donors’ families USD 1600 for the cost of purchasing a grave plot. In addition, the donors’ families will be provided with USD 3200 allowance. This kind of compensation is gratitude on behalf of the Society for consenting to donation. If the families of deceased donors face hardship, Zhejiang Red Cross will offer them extra compensation, which can be no more than USD 4800. The family is eligible to apply for extra compensation only if one of the following conditions is met: the family has been designated a low-income family by the local Bureau of Civil Affairs and receives dole from the government every month, or the income of the family is at the level of local per capita income before the donor's death and the deceased donor was the family's main earner. The committee of Human Organ Donation of Zhejiang Red Cross will assess applicants’ eligibility. Then the committee will discuss how much money should be offered to a donor's family. The amount of compensation offered to a family is not according to the number of procured organs, but according to the degree of the family's suffering. However, there is no formal criterion to estimate the degree of suffering. Generally, the committee will make enquiries into the family's financial situation, assessing such factors as how many dependants the family supports, and whether the donor's spouse has the ability to support the family. Then the final decision will be made by the committee. This kind of compensation is social welfare support for needy families.
Those who consent to donation out of altruism deserve social appreciation and respect. Chinese social ethics not only upholds the moral value of benevolence, humaneness and mutual aid, but also advocates rewarding a good deed. In 1993, China established the China Foundation for Justice and Courage aiming to carry forward traditional Chinese virtues, foster healthy social trends, commend justice-upholding volunteers, and provide legal protection and financial assistance for those who take up the cudgels for a just cause. In July 2012, a Good Samaritan regulation was placed on the legislative agenda to protect those who lend a hand. A good deed itself might not have any economic value. However, the reward could be offered in spiritual and material form. A survey of 463 people of different educational level showed that 87.96% supported financial compensation. Financial compensation could express society's gratitude for altruistic spirit and ease the financial pressure of voluntary donors’ families in needy circumstances.
In January 2012, a student from Hubei Province died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Shenzhen city. The grieving parents donated their daughter's organs and body. Meanwhile, they were unable to pay USD 11 200 for medical expenses, which is a heavy burden for a blue-collar family. As Shenzhen has not yet implemented the financial compensation policy, the organisation's charitable donation provided the family with the means to meet these expenses. China is a developing country with a gross national product of USD 5432 per capita in 2011. There are 128 million citizens, accounting for 10% of the country's total population, living below the poverty line (per capita income for living expenses of urban households less than USD 368 a year). The majority of them live in the country. In addition, medical expenses are a heavy burden for rural residents because of the lack of a good medical insurance system. If a donor's family is faced with financial problems, financial compensation will give timely assistance to that family.
Although China needs a financial compensation programme for deceased organ donation, undesirable consequences have emerged. Of the 207 deceased donors, the proportion of poor donors is much higher than that of other donors. The vice minister of the Red Cross, Zhao Baige, said in an interview that 90% of 207 deceased donors’ families faced financial difficulties. This indicates that some of these families consented to donation because they were in need of financial assistance. With the developing economy, the continued increase in deceased organ donation rate dependent on this policy is doubtful in the long run. In addition, some donors’ families in needy circumstances have suffered great stress, as they were thought to have sold organs of their deceased loved ones.
Financial compensation for deceased organ donation is not unique to China. In 2000, the US state of Pennsylvania implemented a programme of offering USD 300 to the families of organ donors to defray funeral expenses. In 2010, Israel launched a new policy to offer compensation to the families of deceased organ donors. The Israeli Ministry of Health stipulates that families who agree to donate the organs of deceased loved ones will receive USD 13 400. However, China differs from other countries with similar programmes by offering extra compensation for needy families of deceased donors.
In July 2012, the State Council of China issued a guideline for promoting the development of the RCSC. According to the guideline, the government will help the RCSC found provincial organ donation foundations that can sponsor donations and transplants. Financial compensation programmes will be implemented in other pilot provinces and cities. To promote the healthy development of deceased organ donation, programmes promoting voluntary organ donation should be operated extensively to encourage altruism and raise the proportion of donors other than poor ones.
Source: Journal of Medical Ethics
In China, about 1.5 million Chinese patients are placed on organ transplant waiting lists each year, yet less than 1% of them have managed to receive an organ.
The gap between the need for and the supply of organs is large—and growing. The Regulation on Human Organ Transplantation strictly stipulates that living organ donation is limited to relatives. The number of organs from executed prisoners is decreasing. In March 2010, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and the Ministry of Health of China jointly launched a pilot programme of deceased organ donation in 10 provinces and cities. This programme marks a turning point in the transplant history of China. By March 2012, there were 207 deceased donors in total. However, with the country's population of 1.3 billion, the deceased donor rate remains significantly lower than in Spain and other Western countries.
In China, the shortage of deceased organ donors is due to a belief that the body should be left intact, a lack of incentive policy to increase the donation rate, and the weakness of programmes promoting voluntary organ donation. Traditional cultural beliefs about the proper disposition of a corpse constitute the major obstacle to deceased organ donation in China. The Confucian tenet of filial piety requires that a body be returned to the ancestors in an intact state and declares that every part of the body that is given by the parents deserves respect. People have also believed for thousands of years that keeping the dead body intact is a way of respecting the dead. These beliefs produce resistance to organ donation. Although nowadays cremation is carried out in many parts of China, most people still insist that the dead body be kept intact before being taken to cremation.
In order to provide incentive for deceased organ donation, five pilot provinces and cities (Zhejiang, Tianjin, Jiangxi, Jinan and Liaoning) have launched a financial compensation policy. We will take Zhejiang Province as an example. Zhejiang Red Cross established the Human Organ Donation Compensation Foundation in March 2012. From March 2010 to March 2012, there were 20 donors. From April 2012 to the end of July, there were 23 donors. During these 4 months, Zhejiang organ donation witnessed rapid growth. Zhejiang Province, with 43 donors, is now rated number 2 of the pilot provinces and cities.
Organ donation can proceed only if one of the following conditions is met: the deceased has expressed a willingness to be an organ donor in either a living will or another written form, and his or her closest relative provides written consent for organ donation, or the potential donor has not expressed opposition to donation before his or her death, and his or her closest relative provides written consent for organ donation.
A characteristic of organ donation in China is that the Red Cross acts as the third party non-profit organisation in implementing the donation policy with the authority of law. In Zhejiang, the Red Cross is responsible for raising and managing funds for financial compensation, thus ensuring that money is used in a fair and legal way. Transplant hospitals are not allowed to be involved in management of the funds. Government appropriation, transplant hospital contributions and charitable donation are the usual sources of funds.
Financial compensation can be considered to include two main forms, the ‘thank you’ form and the ‘help’ form. ‘Thank you’ compensation includes three aspects. First, Zhejiang Red Cross Society will pay for basic funeral expenses, which cover body transportation, cremation and ash urn storage. Then the Society will offer the donors’ families USD 1600 for the cost of purchasing a grave plot. In addition, the donors’ families will be provided with USD 3200 allowance. This kind of compensation is gratitude on behalf of the Society for consenting to donation. If the families of deceased donors face hardship, Zhejiang Red Cross will offer them extra compensation, which can be no more than USD 4800. The family is eligible to apply for extra compensation only if one of the following conditions is met: the family has been designated a low-income family by the local Bureau of Civil Affairs and receives dole from the government every month, or the income of the family is at the level of local per capita income before the donor's death and the deceased donor was the family's main earner. The committee of Human Organ Donation of Zhejiang Red Cross will assess applicants’ eligibility. Then the committee will discuss how much money should be offered to a donor's family. The amount of compensation offered to a family is not according to the number of procured organs, but according to the degree of the family's suffering. However, there is no formal criterion to estimate the degree of suffering. Generally, the committee will make enquiries into the family's financial situation, assessing such factors as how many dependants the family supports, and whether the donor's spouse has the ability to support the family. Then the final decision will be made by the committee. This kind of compensation is social welfare support for needy families.
Those who consent to donation out of altruism deserve social appreciation and respect. Chinese social ethics not only upholds the moral value of benevolence, humaneness and mutual aid, but also advocates rewarding a good deed. In 1993, China established the China Foundation for Justice and Courage aiming to carry forward traditional Chinese virtues, foster healthy social trends, commend justice-upholding volunteers, and provide legal protection and financial assistance for those who take up the cudgels for a just cause. In July 2012, a Good Samaritan regulation was placed on the legislative agenda to protect those who lend a hand. A good deed itself might not have any economic value. However, the reward could be offered in spiritual and material form. A survey of 463 people of different educational level showed that 87.96% supported financial compensation. Financial compensation could express society's gratitude for altruistic spirit and ease the financial pressure of voluntary donors’ families in needy circumstances.
In January 2012, a student from Hubei Province died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Shenzhen city. The grieving parents donated their daughter's organs and body. Meanwhile, they were unable to pay USD 11 200 for medical expenses, which is a heavy burden for a blue-collar family. As Shenzhen has not yet implemented the financial compensation policy, the organisation's charitable donation provided the family with the means to meet these expenses. China is a developing country with a gross national product of USD 5432 per capita in 2011. There are 128 million citizens, accounting for 10% of the country's total population, living below the poverty line (per capita income for living expenses of urban households less than USD 368 a year). The majority of them live in the country. In addition, medical expenses are a heavy burden for rural residents because of the lack of a good medical insurance system. If a donor's family is faced with financial problems, financial compensation will give timely assistance to that family.
Although China needs a financial compensation programme for deceased organ donation, undesirable consequences have emerged. Of the 207 deceased donors, the proportion of poor donors is much higher than that of other donors. The vice minister of the Red Cross, Zhao Baige, said in an interview that 90% of 207 deceased donors’ families faced financial difficulties. This indicates that some of these families consented to donation because they were in need of financial assistance. With the developing economy, the continued increase in deceased organ donation rate dependent on this policy is doubtful in the long run. In addition, some donors’ families in needy circumstances have suffered great stress, as they were thought to have sold organs of their deceased loved ones.
Financial compensation for deceased organ donation is not unique to China. In 2000, the US state of Pennsylvania implemented a programme of offering USD 300 to the families of organ donors to defray funeral expenses. In 2010, Israel launched a new policy to offer compensation to the families of deceased organ donors. The Israeli Ministry of Health stipulates that families who agree to donate the organs of deceased loved ones will receive USD 13 400. However, China differs from other countries with similar programmes by offering extra compensation for needy families of deceased donors.
In July 2012, the State Council of China issued a guideline for promoting the development of the RCSC. According to the guideline, the government will help the RCSC found provincial organ donation foundations that can sponsor donations and transplants. Financial compensation programmes will be implemented in other pilot provinces and cities. To promote the healthy development of deceased organ donation, programmes promoting voluntary organ donation should be operated extensively to encourage altruism and raise the proportion of donors other than poor ones.
Source: Journal of Medical Ethics
EU Parliament calls for action on Chinese doctors and organ removal
Spanish politician Raül Romeva i Rueda, a Member of the European Parliament asked the following question in the EU Parliament:
"Despite the efforts made and the petitions to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, organs are still being removed from detainees in China, the majority from Falun Gong followers, political dissidents, Uighur and Tibetan minorities. Official reports published by the Chinese authorities documented 18 500 cases of organ transplants between 1994 and 1999. According to estimates by Amnesty International, some 2 000 prisoners have been executed in China per year. Although 2 000 prisoners are executed, not all of them are suitable as donors (due to infections and other diseases, such as hepatitis, etc.). The number of real organ donors is therefore even smaller, and the supply of organs even more unrealistic. Prisons and labour camps in China, in collaboration with hospitals affiliated to the Chinese police and army, select organ donors from amongst hundreds of thousands of detainees for their clients (many from abroad), in practice killing those whose organs have been identified as compatible. There have been various cases of patients going to China with prior notice, as in the case of a doctor who had a patient needing a heart and who was notified two weeks before the operation. The Chinese Deputy Minster for Health, Huang Jiefu, said this year that prisoners were not a good source of organs because they have infectious diseases, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has admitted indirectly that there is a black market in China and a wide live organ removal network. However in reality it is believed that attempts are being made to hide the true scale of these crimes and that the Chinese government is attempting a whitewash.
These practices violate the right to life enshrined in Article 2 of the Charter, human dignity (Article 1 of the Charter), and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 4 of the Charter). Does the Commission intend to investigate these cases? Does it intend to close a dialogue with China?
The EU has spoken out in the past against human rights violations outside of the EU. In the case of China, why is the EU reluctant to act transparently and clearly by means of investigations?
Many European hospitals and universities teach Chinese doctors, who can then return to China to apply their knowledge of European medicine in the unethical removal of organs. What is the Commission’s opinion? Does it believe that these doctors and teachers are unwittingly accomplices to these crimes?
Source: European Parliament
"Despite the efforts made and the petitions to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, organs are still being removed from detainees in China, the majority from Falun Gong followers, political dissidents, Uighur and Tibetan minorities. Official reports published by the Chinese authorities documented 18 500 cases of organ transplants between 1994 and 1999. According to estimates by Amnesty International, some 2 000 prisoners have been executed in China per year. Although 2 000 prisoners are executed, not all of them are suitable as donors (due to infections and other diseases, such as hepatitis, etc.). The number of real organ donors is therefore even smaller, and the supply of organs even more unrealistic. Prisons and labour camps in China, in collaboration with hospitals affiliated to the Chinese police and army, select organ donors from amongst hundreds of thousands of detainees for their clients (many from abroad), in practice killing those whose organs have been identified as compatible. There have been various cases of patients going to China with prior notice, as in the case of a doctor who had a patient needing a heart and who was notified two weeks before the operation. The Chinese Deputy Minster for Health, Huang Jiefu, said this year that prisoners were not a good source of organs because they have infectious diseases, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has admitted indirectly that there is a black market in China and a wide live organ removal network. However in reality it is believed that attempts are being made to hide the true scale of these crimes and that the Chinese government is attempting a whitewash.
These practices violate the right to life enshrined in Article 2 of the Charter, human dignity (Article 1 of the Charter), and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 4 of the Charter). Does the Commission intend to investigate these cases? Does it intend to close a dialogue with China?
The EU has spoken out in the past against human rights violations outside of the EU. In the case of China, why is the EU reluctant to act transparently and clearly by means of investigations?
Many European hospitals and universities teach Chinese doctors, who can then return to China to apply their knowledge of European medicine in the unethical removal of organs. What is the Commission’s opinion? Does it believe that these doctors and teachers are unwittingly accomplices to these crimes?
Source: European Parliament
Schools warned to guard against respiratory disease
The Ministry of Education has urged primary and middle schools to take effective measures, including health campaigns and regular checks, to protect students from respiratory diseases.
In a circular released Tuesday, the ministry ordered schools and kindergartens to take note of students who are absent due to infections and to keep track of the students' health status.
Citing the Ministry of Health, the circular said many regions in North China are already in a high-risk period for respiratory disease outbreaks, adding that South China will soon follow amid dropping temperatures.
Schools were told to ensure proper air flow in classrooms, dorms and cafeterias, as well as arrange for personnel to clean rooms. They were also told to encourage their students to frequently wash their hands and change their clothes.
According to the circular, schools should launch hygiene campaigns to encourage staff and students to develop healthy habits.
Schools should ensure one hour of exercise for students, the circular said.
Source: China Daily
In a circular released Tuesday, the ministry ordered schools and kindergartens to take note of students who are absent due to infections and to keep track of the students' health status.
Citing the Ministry of Health, the circular said many regions in North China are already in a high-risk period for respiratory disease outbreaks, adding that South China will soon follow amid dropping temperatures.
Schools were told to ensure proper air flow in classrooms, dorms and cafeterias, as well as arrange for personnel to clean rooms. They were also told to encourage their students to frequently wash their hands and change their clothes.
According to the circular, schools should launch hygiene campaigns to encourage staff and students to develop healthy habits.
Schools should ensure one hour of exercise for students, the circular said.
Source: China Daily
Why China can't copy US when it comes to e-health
While some great Chinese companies have been built on the back of 'inspiration' from established Western firms, this formula doesn't appear effective in the healthcare and pharmaceutical fields.
China is good at copying is not news. Many Chinese firms prosper because they successfully emulate foreign firms’ products and business models. In fact, one could argue there are more of these “micro-innovations” around than “original innovations”, and that “micro-innovating” firms are more likely to succeed because they have giants’ shoulders to step on. Hence the challenge: what would Chinese firms do when they cannot simply “copy and paste”?
This is essentially the challenge companies must face if they want to make a dent in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Observers have noted that these industries are hotbeds for entrepreneurs nowadays, and things are only going to get more serious with the proliferation of mobile devices and government mandated changes such as electronic records. Of course, to break into industries notorious for their conservatism is not going to be an easy task; essentially, today’s entrepreneurs have to succeed at where the legendary Jim Clark failed. And for an IT company to break into these industries, there are many, many pitfalls.
For Chinese companies trying to make things happen locally, there are even worse. The Chinese healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are so different from their American counterparts that it is extremely difficult, even impossible, for Chinese entrepreneurs to find role models to emulate.
Take HaoDaiFu (meaning “Good Doctor”), for example. The company’s goal is to become a Yelp for Chinese hospitals and doctors. Launched in 2006, Good Doctor arrived on the scene even before American companies such as Castlight that aim to make the healthcare industry more transparent in the U.S.
Yet while Castlight has received more than $100 million in financing, the Good Doctor is still searching for the ever elusive revenue. Seven years into the game, the founder of Good Doctor confessed that it’s still too early to talk bucks.What happened to Good Doctor is not unique. While there are many companies entering the healthcare industry, none of them have a clear business model.
The difference between the fate of Castlight and Good Doctor is the difference between American and Chinese healthcare landscape. The American healthcare industry is fractured, and it needs to be more top-down model a la the Cheesecake Factory. The Chinese industry, on the other hand, is almost the exact opposite. The Chinese government dominates almost every aspects of the industry. In fact, the government’s tentacle runs so deep that even Chinese doctors count as governmental officers according to the SEC.
Such an industry doesn’t need a yelp. Let’s say everyone is dissatisfied with the service quality of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. But what are going to do when you get really sick? You still have to go there, because it’s the best hospital in China, and you don’t have a second option.
The Chinese healthcare industry is much like the story about the gambling parlor in 19th Century America. As the story goes, a guy was gambling in a small town. A friend told him that the game was rigged, but the gambler decides to stay, remarking, “I know it’s crooked, but it’s the only game in town.”
Because of the government’s dominance, most of the American business model is obsolete in China. In fact, Chinese healthcare industry is so unique that you cannot even borrow wisdoms from other Chinese industries. The Good Doctor model is fine for dinning and wining (see Dianping.com), but it’s useless in healthcare. For Chinese entrepreneurs to make an impact, they must navigate uncharted territories. Now we can finally see if Chinese entrepreneurs have what it takes to truly innovate.
Source: TechNode
China is good at copying is not news. Many Chinese firms prosper because they successfully emulate foreign firms’ products and business models. In fact, one could argue there are more of these “micro-innovations” around than “original innovations”, and that “micro-innovating” firms are more likely to succeed because they have giants’ shoulders to step on. Hence the challenge: what would Chinese firms do when they cannot simply “copy and paste”?
This is essentially the challenge companies must face if they want to make a dent in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Observers have noted that these industries are hotbeds for entrepreneurs nowadays, and things are only going to get more serious with the proliferation of mobile devices and government mandated changes such as electronic records. Of course, to break into industries notorious for their conservatism is not going to be an easy task; essentially, today’s entrepreneurs have to succeed at where the legendary Jim Clark failed. And for an IT company to break into these industries, there are many, many pitfalls.
For Chinese companies trying to make things happen locally, there are even worse. The Chinese healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are so different from their American counterparts that it is extremely difficult, even impossible, for Chinese entrepreneurs to find role models to emulate.
Take HaoDaiFu (meaning “Good Doctor”), for example. The company’s goal is to become a Yelp for Chinese hospitals and doctors. Launched in 2006, Good Doctor arrived on the scene even before American companies such as Castlight that aim to make the healthcare industry more transparent in the U.S.
Yet while Castlight has received more than $100 million in financing, the Good Doctor is still searching for the ever elusive revenue. Seven years into the game, the founder of Good Doctor confessed that it’s still too early to talk bucks.What happened to Good Doctor is not unique. While there are many companies entering the healthcare industry, none of them have a clear business model.
The difference between the fate of Castlight and Good Doctor is the difference between American and Chinese healthcare landscape. The American healthcare industry is fractured, and it needs to be more top-down model a la the Cheesecake Factory. The Chinese industry, on the other hand, is almost the exact opposite. The Chinese government dominates almost every aspects of the industry. In fact, the government’s tentacle runs so deep that even Chinese doctors count as governmental officers according to the SEC.
Such an industry doesn’t need a yelp. Let’s say everyone is dissatisfied with the service quality of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. But what are going to do when you get really sick? You still have to go there, because it’s the best hospital in China, and you don’t have a second option.
The Chinese healthcare industry is much like the story about the gambling parlor in 19th Century America. As the story goes, a guy was gambling in a small town. A friend told him that the game was rigged, but the gambler decides to stay, remarking, “I know it’s crooked, but it’s the only game in town.”
Because of the government’s dominance, most of the American business model is obsolete in China. In fact, Chinese healthcare industry is so unique that you cannot even borrow wisdoms from other Chinese industries. The Good Doctor model is fine for dinning and wining (see Dianping.com), but it’s useless in healthcare. For Chinese entrepreneurs to make an impact, they must navigate uncharted territories. Now we can finally see if Chinese entrepreneurs have what it takes to truly innovate.
Source: TechNode
Health officials urge flu vaccination
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| Only about 2% of Chinese people have flu vaccinations each year |
Although influenza cases are "well within the normal range compared with last year", China's top health specialist Shu Yuelong warned that the number of people receiving vaccinations is still far lower than international levels, potentially putting lives at risk.
"Only about 2 percent of people on the Chinese mainland get flu shots each year," the director of the National Influenza Center, under
the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Tuesday.
A total of 360 cases of H1N1 flu were reported between Dec 1 and Jan 6, including two people in Beijing who died. Another person also perished from a different strain.
Shu warned that outbreaks will last into March, "which might mean more deaths, particularly among children and the elderly," the most vulnerable groups.
H1N1 and H3N2, the two most prominent flu strains this season, may have even claimed more lives, he said.
Due to the current system of reporting casualties, as well as limited laboratory facilities at many health institutions, "a number of fatal flu cases may have gone undetected and instead been attributed to secondary complications, such as heart failure," Shu added.
Wang Lin, director of healthcare and disease prevention at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, said the number of people making appointments for shots had increased slightly.
The situation was different at the hospital's international medical unit, though, according to its director, Zhu Yuqing.
"We get about two or three foreigners coming for flu shots each day, similar to past years," she said.
And according to He Xiong, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, many clinics offering the vaccine in the capital had stopped giving shots due to a lack of demand.
He said about 1.7 million residents had received flu shots this winter, mostly elderly people and students.
Deng Haihua, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the flu virus had not mutated and "vaccines provide good protection from H1N1, H3N2 and the influenza B strain".
Source: China Daily
Private Beijing clinic hopes to be model for primary care
"Everyone outside China knows what an outpatient clinic is, and the first person you see when you are sick is your local doctor at your local clinic, which is much more efficient," says family medicine physician Dr Richard Saint Cyr, UFH's clinical marketing and communications director.
"Everyone in China wants to go to a hospital as they think little clinics aren't very good."
In fact, 90 to 95 percent of what people see a doctor for can be treated at the clinic, such as vaccinations or routine checkups.
"We definitely want to be a model for that in China," said Saint Cyr.
While it is easy to market an outpatient clinic to expats, it takes more effort to convince Chinese people to go to private clinics, he admitted. One of the most effective ways to inform Chinese people is through social media channels, such as Sina Weibo. There, doctors can answer questions from their followers and tell people to come in for a visit.
"Anyone who is used to going to a private clinic would find it hard to go back to busy and crowded hospitals in China," he said.
The new clinic provides a full continuum and wider variety of care to those living and working in the bustling area.
As UFH's sixth satellite clinic in Beijing, the CBD clinic offers a range of health care services including primary care, pediatrics, OB/GYN and internal medicine.
With an open, over-the-counter pharmacy and a laboratory, the 300-square-meter clinic can also provide support services such as ultrasounds, blood and urine tests and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The appointment-based clinic, staffed with bilingual doctors and nurses, offers a much more relaxing atmosphere compared with the long queues and noisy environments seen in many local hospitals.
"To have a satellite community clinic in many parts of Beijing is definitely one of our goals. The CBD clinic is in the perfect location as it is next to Central Park and Chaowai SOHO, and a lot of people [living here] already go to our clinics," said Saint Cyr.
The largest foreign-invested health care provider in China, UFH has been providing an international standard of care for both Chinese and expats in five cities since 1997 and is the only network of hospitals in China to receive a multi-city JCI accreditation of quality and safety.
Source: Global Times
Aged care home shortage shows need for insurance plan: adviser
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| Shenzhen has only 4894 aged care places its 862,000 elderly population |
Xu Long , a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Shenzhen committee, said in a proposal that there are 862,000 people over 60 living in Shenzhen, but the 30 aged care homes in the city can only accommodate 4,894 people.
Despite the lack of beds for the elderly, many old people opt to spend long periods in hospital, receiving care at the cost of medical insurance, because the current medical insurance does not cover daily care for the aged.
This has led to immense growth in the city’s medical insurance expenditure, he said at the fourth conference of the fifth session of CPPCC Shenzhen Committee, which is being held from Sunday to Wednesday.
Xu, who is also deputy director of a hospital in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, proposed that Shenzhen should establish a long-term elderly care insurance system.
Individuals, the government and the enterprises should pay for the insurance premium together, he said.
Eventually, the insurance will help lift some of the financial burden from both the government and families, he said.
Source: China Daily
Guangdong doctors take 10,000 RMB a month in pharmaceutical company bribes: police investigate
A special task force has been sent to the city of Gaozhou in western Guangdong province on Tuesday to investigate a case involving doctors at a local hospital accepting commissions from drug manufacturers and sales representatives.
Yao Zhibin, director-general of Guangdong provincial health department, said the special task force will work closely with the local Party discipline watchdog and police to launch a thorough investigation into the case, which has tarnished the image of local medical organizations and medical staff.
"Those who are found to have violated laws and relevant regulations and rules will be seriously punished," said Yao.
The special task force was established when a TV report revealed last week that doctors from Gaozhou City People's Hospital accepted commissions of more than 20 percent from drug manufacturers and sales representatives.
According to the TV report, doctors from the hospital asked for up to 25 percent of the drugs' prices as commission.
A doctor can usually get between 5,000 yuan ($805) and 10,000 yuan in commission a month from the drug company representatives and manufacturers.
The TV report also showed footage in which doctors from the hospital accepted cash from sales representatives and manufacturers in a parking lot near the hospital.
One representative of a manufacturer gave doctors at the hospital more than 3.6 million yuan in commission for the sale of medicines valued at 18 million yuan to the hospital.
The hospital has yet to comment on the case.
Source: China Daily
Yao Zhibin, director-general of Guangdong provincial health department, said the special task force will work closely with the local Party discipline watchdog and police to launch a thorough investigation into the case, which has tarnished the image of local medical organizations and medical staff.
"Those who are found to have violated laws and relevant regulations and rules will be seriously punished," said Yao.
The special task force was established when a TV report revealed last week that doctors from Gaozhou City People's Hospital accepted commissions of more than 20 percent from drug manufacturers and sales representatives.
According to the TV report, doctors from the hospital asked for up to 25 percent of the drugs' prices as commission.
A doctor can usually get between 5,000 yuan ($805) and 10,000 yuan in commission a month from the drug company representatives and manufacturers.
The TV report also showed footage in which doctors from the hospital accepted cash from sales representatives and manufacturers in a parking lot near the hospital.
One representative of a manufacturer gave doctors at the hospital more than 3.6 million yuan in commission for the sale of medicines valued at 18 million yuan to the hospital.
The hospital has yet to comment on the case.
Source: China Daily
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
China lacks child-specific formulations of medicines
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| Only 1.5% of commonly used medications have children's formulations or doses |
Wu Xiaoman is the mother of a 17-month-old boy and she is unhappy. She is unhappy with the fact that her son has been unwell. But more unhappy that the drugs prescribed to help ease the boy's persistent and aggravating cough were intended for an adult.
"I took my son to the Children's Hospital of Shanghai and we were given a medicine called Clarityne. Although the doctor asked me to give my son half a pill at a time, I was very uncomfortable when I read the medicine's literature at home which stated that the medicine was intended for adults and children above the age of 2 years," Wu told the Global Times. "I didn't follow the doctor's instructions but I cut the pill into four pieces, crushed one piece and mixed it with water before giving it to my son. I wanted to reduce any potential side effects because this medicine is not designed for babies."
She is not the only parent who is troubled at the lack of suitable children's medicines on the market in the country. Recently the China Youth Daily reported that the father of a 5-month-old child suffering from kidney disease has to cut a pill into small sections, crush the sections and then dissolve them in water before he can give the medicine to his child every day.
John Elliot, a pediatrician at the Shanghai United Family Hospital, worked as a pediatrician for 15 years in the US before he moved to Shanghai. He said he found that common medicines, like some antibiotics and asthma medications, were not available in China in liquid forms, and some more specialized medicines were difficult to obtain.
"Sometimes when we don't have the medicine required in a liquid form, we have to get our pharmacist to crush the pills and add them to water to make a solution so that children can take the medicine safely. In the US, a lot of these medicines are already available in liquid forms."
Elliot said that in China some other medicines, like anticonvulsants, were not available with the range of options they were offered in Western countries. Ji Lianmei, a pharmacist with the United Family Healthcare's Beijing branch, said that domestic medicines often lacked child suitable versions and adequate advice on dosage.
Statistics from the Pharmaceutical Chamber of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce suggest that of the 3,500-plus medicines available, specific children's medicines account for only 1.52 percent.
Read the full article: Global Times
China's health minister visits Cameroon
He was received upon arrival by Cameroon’s Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda and H.E. Wo Ruidi, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Cameroon, amongst others. “In the future, our cooperation should be further developed to benefit our peoples because we can learn from each other,” he confided.
After a working session with the Chinese Medical Mission and a visit to the River Nyong yesterday, Sunday January 13, 2013, H.E Chen Zhu will be received in audience this morning, January 14, 2013 by the Minister of Public Health. He will later in the afternoon preside the ceremony to hand over gifts to the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric Hospital. In the evening, he will be guest at a State dinner offered by Andre Mama Fouda.
Tomorrow, Tuesday January 15, H.E Chen Zhu will be in Douala to appraise ongoing work at the new Gynaeco-Obstetric Hospital in Yassa, Douala which will have a 300-bed capacity and will be one of the most important in its category in the sub-region.
Health ministry officials say the working visit is an opportunity to highlight milestones in cooperation since the signing of the first bilateral health cooperation agreement between both countries in October 1, 1975. In effect, major achievements in 40 years include development of health infrastructure, 16 two-year medical missions, donation of medical equipment to Chinese-constructed hospitals, anti-malarial drugs, research, financing and scholarships to local health personnel.
Source: 20Mai
Three out of four Chinese women have never had a mammogram
Breast cancer incidence has increased dramatically among Chinese women in the past 20 years most have never had a mammogram and have little interest in undergoing screening, a new study has found.
A survey conducted in 400 women in Wuhan flu d that 75% of the women never had a mammogram. Most women felt that there was little need to have breast cancer screening, especially if they were healthy, and many showed a lack of awareness and knowledge of breast cancer screening.
The study researchers said that the changes in breast cancer incidence and distribution of breast cancer patterns in Chinese women present opportunities for developing and implementing effective public health programs to promote breast cancer screening for women in China.
"It is essential that public health campaigns focus on the importance of early detection and prevention that target both general public and health care professionals working directly with their clients," they say.
They note that the concept of screening while asymptomatic is lacking among Chinese women and a low priority toward breast cancer screening was observed in the study.
"As a result, this study highlights a critical need among general public, health professionals, and the health care system to work collaboratively toward narrowing the gap in breast cancer screening and to improve the quality of breast cancer care in this population.
Source: International Journal of Breast Cancer
Officials and government employees take up large part of China's medical resources
Including civil servants in the public medical insurance system is the first step to regularize China's healthcare reform, reports say.
China will increase the subsidy for each inhabitant of a rural area participating in the medical insurance program to 280 yuan ($44) and 20 kinds of illnesses, including lung cancer, will be covered by the medical insurance for serious illnesses.
The coverage of the rural inhabitants' healthcare costs will also increase to more than 70 percent for less serious illnesses, and at least 50 percent for serious illnesses.
These changes will further relieve the rural population's healthcare financial burdens. The rapid and large-scale urbanization requires China to spend more money on the increasing demands of the rural population and city residents.
Medical expenses accounted for 4.6 percent of China's GDP in 2009, among which only 50.1 percent are public medical costs.
The government resources used on healthcare only take 0.98 percent of China's GDP, much lower than the international standard of 8 to 15 percent. That means that the citizens still assume the bigger part of their medical costs, despite a series of efforts made by the government in medicine pricing reforms and medical insurance reforms.
A considerable part of the government's financial support is used to subsidize the medical bills of civil servants and to build public hospitals. Only a small part is invested directly on citizens' medical care.
Civil servants, a relatively small number of people, take up a large proportion of China's medical resources. Public hospitals have to sell expensive medicine to squeeze more profits. This ill and unfair healthcare subsidy system distorts the supply-and-demand relations of China's medical market. So it is really an irony that the government is asking hospitals to stop selling and over prescribing expensive medicine without cutting its huge subsidies for the medical bills of civil servants.
The Chinese government should include all civil servants in the public healthcare insurance system. This is the very first meaningful step to bring order to China's healthcare field.
Source: China Daily
China will increase the subsidy for each inhabitant of a rural area participating in the medical insurance program to 280 yuan ($44) and 20 kinds of illnesses, including lung cancer, will be covered by the medical insurance for serious illnesses.
The coverage of the rural inhabitants' healthcare costs will also increase to more than 70 percent for less serious illnesses, and at least 50 percent for serious illnesses.
These changes will further relieve the rural population's healthcare financial burdens. The rapid and large-scale urbanization requires China to spend more money on the increasing demands of the rural population and city residents.
Medical expenses accounted for 4.6 percent of China's GDP in 2009, among which only 50.1 percent are public medical costs.
The government resources used on healthcare only take 0.98 percent of China's GDP, much lower than the international standard of 8 to 15 percent. That means that the citizens still assume the bigger part of their medical costs, despite a series of efforts made by the government in medicine pricing reforms and medical insurance reforms.
A considerable part of the government's financial support is used to subsidize the medical bills of civil servants and to build public hospitals. Only a small part is invested directly on citizens' medical care.
Civil servants, a relatively small number of people, take up a large proportion of China's medical resources. Public hospitals have to sell expensive medicine to squeeze more profits. This ill and unfair healthcare subsidy system distorts the supply-and-demand relations of China's medical market. So it is really an irony that the government is asking hospitals to stop selling and over prescribing expensive medicine without cutting its huge subsidies for the medical bills of civil servants.
The Chinese government should include all civil servants in the public healthcare insurance system. This is the very first meaningful step to bring order to China's healthcare field.
Source: China Daily
Beijing's air pollution will worsen flu effects on health, doctors warn
Medical experts have warned that the recent severe pollution in Beijing may exacerbate the annual winter flu outbreak.
This winter, the main flu strain is still A(H1N1), often referred to as "swine flu" since it first broke out in Mexico in 2009.
According to the latest release from the Beijing Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), three people have died of A(H1N1) strain of flu since January 1.
"The three patients had other diseases like cancer and asthma," said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the CDC.
While the three patients died before the extreme pollution that has afflicted the capital since Friday, Pang said the smoggy conditions now will exacerbate the spread of A(H1N1), as it will negatively impact people's ability to resist the virus.
"There are pollutants which are harmful to the respiratory tract and the cardiovascular system. And it's easier for the little PM2.5 particles to get deep inside the respiratory tract, which will aggravate the illnesses of patients who have diseases like asthma and pneumonia. So people's ability to resist the flu virus will be degraded," Pang said.
In addition, it is hard for respiratory viruses, including the flu, to disperse when the air is stale and has more pollutants, she said.
"If a flu patient sneezes, the virus in the smoggy air will stay for a longer time than usual. So other people passing by have a higher possibility of breathing the virus in," noted Pang.
A nurse, surnamed Cheng, from Beijing Hospital in Dongcheng district, said that the number of patients seeking flu treatment has risen, and their staff has been affected.
"We are short-staffed more than usual now due to flu," she said.
"People have to wait for about two hours on the waiting list to see emergency doctors here while in ordinary days, the waiting time is just about half an hour," Cheng said.
Doctor Zhong Nanshan, renowned Chinese respiratory disease expert and head of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, told the Global Times that there is no proof that PM2.5 particles can transmit the flu virus.
"However, for patients who catch it, breathing the particles will aggravate the disease, because PM2.5 can penetrate the respiratory tract, and also the [lung] alveoli. For those who have other diseases, their ability to resist the virus will be lowered," said Zhong.
Ma Yanming, media officer of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, agreed that the conditions could be harmful.
"However, we don't have any figures for the A(H1N1) patients because we can't survey all flu patients," said Ma.
Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center showed that on Saturday, PM2.5 was over 700 micrograms per cubic meter at some stations, and peaked at over 900 micrograms per cubic meter in some areas.
The World Health Organization indicates that PM2.5 over 25 micrograms per cubic meter is dangerous to the health.
In the latest CDC release, from December 31, 2012 to January 6, 2013, it is estimated that in above second-class medical institutions in Beijing, 30,077 patients came for flu treatment. The number is 3.88 percent higher than the previous week's 28,567 flu patients.
Pang said the flu in Beijing is different from the flu epidemic now spreading in the US.
"H3N2 is the main strain of flu in the US; in Beijing it's H1N1," she said.
According to the Xinhua News Agency Sunday, so far 30 US states have had deaths due to the flu, most of whom were aged over 65 or children.
This US flu season has peaked weeks earlier than usual, and has tipped over into an epidemic, the New York Times reported Friday.
Pang said that so far the flu is controllable in China because the A(H1N1) strain has not mutated.
From July, 2009 to January 17, 2010, 10,966 people caught A(H1N1) in Beijing, and 76 people died, according to the Beijing News on January 6.
Source: Global Times
This winter, the main flu strain is still A(H1N1), often referred to as "swine flu" since it first broke out in Mexico in 2009.
According to the latest release from the Beijing Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), three people have died of A(H1N1) strain of flu since January 1.
"The three patients had other diseases like cancer and asthma," said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the CDC.
While the three patients died before the extreme pollution that has afflicted the capital since Friday, Pang said the smoggy conditions now will exacerbate the spread of A(H1N1), as it will negatively impact people's ability to resist the virus.
"There are pollutants which are harmful to the respiratory tract and the cardiovascular system. And it's easier for the little PM2.5 particles to get deep inside the respiratory tract, which will aggravate the illnesses of patients who have diseases like asthma and pneumonia. So people's ability to resist the flu virus will be degraded," Pang said.
In addition, it is hard for respiratory viruses, including the flu, to disperse when the air is stale and has more pollutants, she said.
"If a flu patient sneezes, the virus in the smoggy air will stay for a longer time than usual. So other people passing by have a higher possibility of breathing the virus in," noted Pang.
A nurse, surnamed Cheng, from Beijing Hospital in Dongcheng district, said that the number of patients seeking flu treatment has risen, and their staff has been affected.
"We are short-staffed more than usual now due to flu," she said.
"People have to wait for about two hours on the waiting list to see emergency doctors here while in ordinary days, the waiting time is just about half an hour," Cheng said.
Doctor Zhong Nanshan, renowned Chinese respiratory disease expert and head of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, told the Global Times that there is no proof that PM2.5 particles can transmit the flu virus.
"However, for patients who catch it, breathing the particles will aggravate the disease, because PM2.5 can penetrate the respiratory tract, and also the [lung] alveoli. For those who have other diseases, their ability to resist the virus will be lowered," said Zhong.
Ma Yanming, media officer of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, agreed that the conditions could be harmful.
"However, we don't have any figures for the A(H1N1) patients because we can't survey all flu patients," said Ma.
Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center showed that on Saturday, PM2.5 was over 700 micrograms per cubic meter at some stations, and peaked at over 900 micrograms per cubic meter in some areas.
The World Health Organization indicates that PM2.5 over 25 micrograms per cubic meter is dangerous to the health.
In the latest CDC release, from December 31, 2012 to January 6, 2013, it is estimated that in above second-class medical institutions in Beijing, 30,077 patients came for flu treatment. The number is 3.88 percent higher than the previous week's 28,567 flu patients.
Pang said the flu in Beijing is different from the flu epidemic now spreading in the US.
"H3N2 is the main strain of flu in the US; in Beijing it's H1N1," she said.
According to the Xinhua News Agency Sunday, so far 30 US states have had deaths due to the flu, most of whom were aged over 65 or children.
This US flu season has peaked weeks earlier than usual, and has tipped over into an epidemic, the New York Times reported Friday.
Pang said that so far the flu is controllable in China because the A(H1N1) strain has not mutated.
From July, 2009 to January 17, 2010, 10,966 people caught A(H1N1) in Beijing, and 76 people died, according to the Beijing News on January 6.
Source: Global Times
China leads the world in heparin production
China, abundant in heparin raw materials, has become one of the world's largest heparin producers and exporters, owing to the quality of heparin active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) having won international recognition gradually, according to a new report.
Due to the euro debt crisis, the global market suffered a deep recession. Coupled with that, the heparin export standard has been lifted, China's export volume of heparin API was no more than 105.2 tons in 2011, approximating 14.6 trillion units, or around 45.9% of global demand during the same period.
Leading heparin API suppliers worldwide include Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical, Changzhou Qianhong Bio-Pharma, Yantai Dongcheng Biochemicals and Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical, which have ranked top four industrial players by export for several successive years, with the combined export value making up more than 70% of China's total export value of heparin.
There is no distinct change in terms of the export pattern. However, the export prices of China's top 10 heparin exporters witnessed a downturn in 2011-first-half 2012. Nevertheless, this was not the case for Dongying Tiandong Pharmaceutical and Jiangsu Medicine Health Care Article Imp & Exp (Group), whose export prices increased by 3.8% and 2.1% year-on-year respectively in January-May, 2012, due to the improved quality of exported products as well as the low cardinal number of exported prices in the preceding year.
Meanwhile, Chinese heparin API flagship enterprises including Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical, Changzhou Qianhong Bio-Pharma, Yantai Dongcheng Biochemicals, Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical and Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical are projected to expand their capacities and improve the heparin industry chains. Among these, the first four have made IPOs, while Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical is also preparing for an IPO. According to public information issued by related enterprises, the heparin API capacity of China will increase by more than 18 trillion units by 2014, with the total capacity expected to exceed 30 trillion units, making up over 70% of the global demand.
Although China is a large country with rich heparin API, the downstream production of general heparin and low molecular weight heparin preparations is still at the initial stage. In the high-end low molecular weight heparin market, especially, joint ventures and foreign brands including Sanofi, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have entered into the Chinese market. According to the China Pharmaceutical Industry Association, imported low molecular weight heparin calcium accounted for more than 60% of the total procurement of such products by representative hospitals in 22 Chinese cities in 2011.
However, with the improvement of R&D and technological strength, the competitiveness of made-in-China low molecular weight heparin preparation market is increasingly enhancing. A case in point is Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical, the capacity of low molecular weight heparin calcium injection of which soared from 4 million pcs to 10 million pcs in 2011, with the sales increased by 68.4% year-on-year to 86.93 million renminbi (around $14 million), compared to the sales of 117 million renminbi in first-half 2012, a year-on-year rise of 237.6%.
Source: The Pharma Letter
Due to the euro debt crisis, the global market suffered a deep recession. Coupled with that, the heparin export standard has been lifted, China's export volume of heparin API was no more than 105.2 tons in 2011, approximating 14.6 trillion units, or around 45.9% of global demand during the same period.
Leading heparin API suppliers worldwide include Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical, Changzhou Qianhong Bio-Pharma, Yantai Dongcheng Biochemicals and Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical, which have ranked top four industrial players by export for several successive years, with the combined export value making up more than 70% of China's total export value of heparin.
There is no distinct change in terms of the export pattern. However, the export prices of China's top 10 heparin exporters witnessed a downturn in 2011-first-half 2012. Nevertheless, this was not the case for Dongying Tiandong Pharmaceutical and Jiangsu Medicine Health Care Article Imp & Exp (Group), whose export prices increased by 3.8% and 2.1% year-on-year respectively in January-May, 2012, due to the improved quality of exported products as well as the low cardinal number of exported prices in the preceding year.
Meanwhile, Chinese heparin API flagship enterprises including Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical, Changzhou Qianhong Bio-Pharma, Yantai Dongcheng Biochemicals, Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical and Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical are projected to expand their capacities and improve the heparin industry chains. Among these, the first four have made IPOs, while Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical is also preparing for an IPO. According to public information issued by related enterprises, the heparin API capacity of China will increase by more than 18 trillion units by 2014, with the total capacity expected to exceed 30 trillion units, making up over 70% of the global demand.
Although China is a large country with rich heparin API, the downstream production of general heparin and low molecular weight heparin preparations is still at the initial stage. In the high-end low molecular weight heparin market, especially, joint ventures and foreign brands including Sanofi, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have entered into the Chinese market. According to the China Pharmaceutical Industry Association, imported low molecular weight heparin calcium accounted for more than 60% of the total procurement of such products by representative hospitals in 22 Chinese cities in 2011.
However, with the improvement of R&D and technological strength, the competitiveness of made-in-China low molecular weight heparin preparation market is increasingly enhancing. A case in point is Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical, the capacity of low molecular weight heparin calcium injection of which soared from 4 million pcs to 10 million pcs in 2011, with the sales increased by 68.4% year-on-year to 86.93 million renminbi (around $14 million), compared to the sales of 117 million renminbi in first-half 2012, a year-on-year rise of 237.6%.
Source: The Pharma Letter
Monday, 14 January 2013
Why are 'stoic' Chinese women having Caesarean sections?
Why are Chinese women, traditionally so stoic about personal discomfort, becoming less so in opting for C-sections instead of vaginal births?
Roughly 50 percent of women were opting for C-sections in 2007-8, according to one study of Chinese hospitals, the highest rate anywhere in the world.
Even women who attempt vaginal birth in China usually insist on an epidural – at least urban-dwelling women who have access to and the means to afford decent healthcare do.
“Firstly it’s not always the women making this decision,” [Shanghai midwife] MK explains. She says that most OB-GYNs in China push C-section as the best option as it is quicker than vaginal birth and most of them work in very over-crowded public hospitals.
“You can do 10 or 12 C-sections in a day compared to perhaps two or three vaginal births. There is also a shortage of midwives in Chinese hospitals so natural deliveries are a problem.
“Then there is the issue of the family. Chinese families, including the extended family, like to be present at the birth. Sometimes there will be 10 or more of them waiting in the hospital. If most of the patients are having C-sections, every 30 minutes or so the nurse comes out and whole crowd of people disperse. If every woman is having a natural birth, imagine the chaos of people. The doctors prefer C-sections for all these reasons.
Read the full article: Daily Telegraph
Roughly 50 percent of women were opting for C-sections in 2007-8, according to one study of Chinese hospitals, the highest rate anywhere in the world.
Even women who attempt vaginal birth in China usually insist on an epidural – at least urban-dwelling women who have access to and the means to afford decent healthcare do.
“Firstly it’s not always the women making this decision,” [Shanghai midwife] MK explains. She says that most OB-GYNs in China push C-section as the best option as it is quicker than vaginal birth and most of them work in very over-crowded public hospitals.
“You can do 10 or 12 C-sections in a day compared to perhaps two or three vaginal births. There is also a shortage of midwives in Chinese hospitals so natural deliveries are a problem.
“Then there is the issue of the family. Chinese families, including the extended family, like to be present at the birth. Sometimes there will be 10 or more of them waiting in the hospital. If most of the patients are having C-sections, every 30 minutes or so the nurse comes out and whole crowd of people disperse. If every woman is having a natural birth, imagine the chaos of people. The doctors prefer C-sections for all these reasons.
Read the full article: Daily Telegraph
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