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“The prerequisite for listing these drugs on medical insurance is that they are of reliable quality,” the administration said, promising that it would listen to clinical feedback on the effect of the drugs, and investigate how these were chosen in centralised procurement.
The statement was in response to a proposal by 20 members of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body.
The lawmakers, most of whom are from the medical sector, said they found in clinical practice that “the efficacy of some drugs procured through bulk purchasing is unstable, especially medications for high blood pressure and diabetes or anaesthetics”, Caixin magazine reported last week.
“In some cases, even increasing the dosage doesn’t work,” they wrote in the proposal, as reported by other Chinese media as well. “Doctors also feel helpless because they have no right to choose other drugs and there’s no channel to report to higher authorities.”