中国将启动公立医院改革计划,这将有助于结束药品商从中牟利的行为,确保医疗市场的稳定性。
Pricing reform for public hospital
A new regulation will require hospitals to end the practice of using profits from medication sales, to ensure the hospital's sustainability. The measures are raising questions of how to ensure financial viability.
This is the First People's Hospital in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province.
Four years ago, it rarely treated more than 500 patients a day. Local residents preferred to go to hospitals further away, making it hard for administrators. High prices were the main reason residents chose to go elsewhere.
To address the issue, the hospital strengthened its supervision on doctors, urging them to use proper medication, rather than those with high prices. Doctors who violate the rule will receive severe punishment.
Yu Hongwei, Deputy chief of Zhengzhou First People's Hospital, said, "Doctors who use improper medication will be reprimanded and receive economic punishment. If they persist,
he will be deprived of his capacity to prescribe medicine for a certain period of time."
The new regulations are showing gradual progress. Costs for each patient have decreased.
Yu said, "Patient costs are decreasing, but the hospital's income is increasing because its treating more patients."
The new measures were also tested in a less-developed city in Sichuan Province. Most of the public hospitals in Nanchong used to rely on medication sales.