Health official plans reform to stop price hike on pharmaceutical drugs

A top health official of Beijing municipal government called for further reforms in the circulation of drugs to reduce the price of drugs sold in hospitals.

The current reform, adopted in many places in China, including Beijing, which aims to stop public hospitals to rely on selling drugs for profit, has reduced the price of drugs sold in some hospitals in Beijing and lessened financial burdens for patients in general, Feng Guosheng, chief of Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals, said.

"But more reforms in the circulation of drugs, such as reforms in the bidding and purchase process of drugs, are needed to cut the link between doctors and representatives of pharmaceutical companies to further bring down the prices of drugs sold in hospitals," Feng said.

Feng made the comment at an event to mark the first anniversary of the Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, which is affiliated to Tsinghua University. More than 600 health officials and experts from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and the United States attended the event.

A key measure of the reforms, currently under way in many public hospitals in China, is for public hospitals to stop selling drugs for up to 15 percent more than the price they pay for pharmaceutical companies, a practice that has been adopted by public hospitals for years as a major means of income.

Such a practice has encouraged hospitals to sell more expensive drugs for more profit and was a major cause for complaint from patients, some analysts said.