Vice-premier calls for centralized medicine procurement to cut prices

BEIJING — Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan on Dec 7 stressed the need for centralized medicine procurement and market-oriented drug prices in an effort to reduce the burden on patients.

Sun called for efforts to lower medicine prices to reasonable levels and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the pharmaceutical industry, at a meeting held in Beijing.

Sun called on public hospitals to motivate medical workers in various areas including the adjustment of medical service fees and implementation of performance-based salaries.

Centralized procurement of drugs at government-run institutions has been introduced to bring down drug prices at the supply end and to lower prices for patients.