A good first step in China's healthcare reform

BEIJING, Jan.12 -- If it works, it should make

everyone feel a little better about healthcare - and make healthcare a little

more accessible to more people. Patients will no longer have to shell out the 7

to 15 percent extra fees that State-owned hospitals charge on medicines. The

Health Ministry's announcement last week is a welcome first step in China's

long-delayed healthcare reform.

The new policy, to be adopted on trial basis, is

intended to stop hospitals from relying too much on income from medicines. It is

estimated that income from the sale of medicines makes up 50 percent of a

hospital's revenue on an average.

But the catch is that a doctor's income too is

closely tied to the hospital's earnings from medicine sales. No wonder it is

common for doctors to prescribe expensive drugs while cheaper drugs can work

just as well or possibly even better.

Part of the deficit caused by reduced income from

drug sales will be made up by increased charges on patients for the service that

doctors provide. But such expenses will be covered by basic medical insurance.

That means those who have such insurance will have cheaper medical bills for

seeing their doctors.

What is supposed to make the difference is the move's

intention to get rid of the unhealthy tendency of doctors prescribing expensive

drugs for their own or their hospital's profits rather than for the

rehabilitation of patients.

The government's good intention could be just wishful

thinking if no specific measures were taken to break the nexus between

representatives of medicine manufacturers and doctors or between hospitals and

manufacturers.

It is an open secret that some doctors get kickbacks

from drug manufacturers for prescribing their drugs.

This move will undoubtedly dampen the enthusiasm

hospitals have to urge their doctors to prescribe expensive drugs.

It is still too early to say how much the new policy

will improve the service doctors provide to their patients and reduce the cost

of healthcare since it will only be practiced in some hospitals on a trial basis

for three years.

Cutting down expensive healthcare bills and improving

the quality of service require more investigations into the problem areas of the

healthcare system.

The detailed plan for this reform is expected to be

made public soon. Many are looking forward to specific measures dealing with

healthcare problems. This comes in the backdrop of mounting complaints from the

public about the difficulty in and high cost of seeking healthcare service.

Hopefully, this is just a start that will be followed

up by more practical moves to make it easier and cheaper for more people to get

quality healthcare service.

(Source: China Daily)