Medical
Medicine Import Growth to Slow in 1997
According to Lin Jianning of the state Pharmaceutical Administration's South Pharmaceutical Economy Institute, imported medicines will witness slow growth this year in China even though increases have been big in the past few years. He said that the sector will have structural adjustments and a dip in prices. Recently imported and joint venture medicines have accounted for two-thirds of the increase in China's medicine market. A survey has indicated that they account for half of the 50 most popular medicines.
Xinhua News Agency (PRC), 01/21/97
Every Chinese Town to Have a Pharmacy by 2000
According to the State Pharmaceutical Administration, every town in China will have a medical pharmacy or medicine retail shop by 2000. the administration will build 38,00 medicine retail networks over the next five years, doubling the present number. At present there is only one pharmacy for every 2.5 towns on average. The newly managed state-managed wholesale retail distribution network will cover all towns, counties and villages providing safe and good quality medicine for rural people. Now, statistics suggest that the ratio of average consumption of medicines and use of medical equipment per capita between farmers and city dwellers is one to nine.
CBNet (PRC), 01/28/97
Western Clinics Now Focusing on Chinese Families
Over the last few years Western-style medical clinics have opened up in several mainland cities. Most of them have been successful at drawing foreign clientele but are now promoting themselves among the rising market of affluent Chinese families. Expatriate staff at multinational corporation have traditionally made up the bulk of the clinics' customers. Clinics that have been established in Beijing have an annual operating revenue of up to $2 million with 40-60 patients a day. In a high percentage of Chinese hospitals, patients who require surgery often must pay several times the price of an operation in bribes to doctors and medical staff in order to insure good treatment. A typical Chinese doctors' salary is $120-240 a month so doctors often supplement their incomes by collecting "hong bao", or red envelopes that have cash from patients or relatives worried about the quality of treatment. This has been a factor in spurring the development of foreign-run hospitals as the cost in Chinese hospitals continues to grow ever higher. Studies done show that after bribes are paid, the price difference between foreign and domestic hospitals/clinics is negligible. Although there are a growing number of Western clinics, the health field in China remains very restrictive.
Sunday Morning Post (Hong Kong), 03/02/97
Medicine Relief Flight to China by FedEx
Federal Express Airlines's Asia Pacific public relations manager, David Clarke, said that the company was arranging a charity lift of medical supplies from the United States to Sichuan Province in China where it will be distributed on April 14. The company will use one of its DC-10 freighters to fly some 50 tons of pharmaceuticals donated by U.S. drugs manufacturers from a collection point in Indianapolis. The flight was organized by the U.S.-based charity Heart to eart International which helped enlist other sponsors such as Chrysler Corp and McDonnell Douglas Corp.
Reuters (U.K.), 03/27/97