Nonprescription Drugs Boom In China

The number of drugstores opening in shopping centers, luxury hotels,office buildings and residential areas in Beijing, the Chinese capital, is growing rapidly, says the Beijing Review. These stores offer drugs at cheaper prices than hospitals and are more convenient, and medical experts believe their boom will accelerate the move to standardize the management of nonprescription drugs.

The experts say it is vital for China to introduce a drugs management system to remove the financial burden on the government. 230 million people (19.5% of the population) now enjoy free medical care worth 48 billion renminbi ($5.76 billion) or 42.5% of total health spending. The cost of free care is growing 23.3% a year. Doctors receive low fees for this work so they tend to write excessive numbers of prescriptions or prescribe expensive drugs in order to earn more money.

Chinese people are receptive to non-prescription drugs because of their tradition of low-cost, effective, patented traditional medicines. In the countryside, hundreds of millions of farmers must find affordable drugs, which they can obtain in local drugstores; urban residents also prefer the stores because of convenience. The considerable growth in drugstores' business is reflected by the fact that while hospital pharmacies formerly accounted for 95% of drug sales, this is now down to 85%-90%. In cities such as Shenzhen, drugstores account for 37% of drug sales.