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Drug stores refused to lower prices
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DRUG stores in Shenzhen have refused to fully obey an official order to slash the prices of dozens of drugs.
A reporter with the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, sister publication of Shenzhen Daily, has found that prices of a number of drugs on the list have not decreased in most drugstores a month after the State Planning and Development Commission (SPDC) issued a circular on May 20 ordering hefty price cuts on almost 70 kinds of drugs, most of them antibiotics.
The reporter discovered that the cynnematin produced by a pharmaceutical company in Shandong Province is still priced at more than 40 yuan (US$4.8) per pack in two major chain dispensaries. The price of exactly the same drug has been slashed to 16.30 yuan in the People's Hospital for quite some time according to the circular, the reporter said.
He also discovered similar price discrepancies with other medicines.
To reduce the expensive bills Chinese patients have had to foot, the SPDC has ordered four price cuts since last year. But critics say the cuts only affect a small portion of drugs and most medicines for chronic illnesses are patented combinations and not subject to administrative orders.
Many drugs within the price-cut lists simply disappeared from the counters soon after the cuts were announced, earlier reports said.
Lan Bo, of Haiwang Xingcheng chained drugstore, told the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily that the SPDC's orchestrated price cuts were only expedient measures, and that sweeping medical reform is needed to root out corruption in hospitals and drug makers and create fair competition which will ensure reasonable drug prices.
(SD News)
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