ROC Doctors Protest On Separation Of Drug Dispensing

Doctors in Taiwan, the Republic of China, have said they will quit theNational Health Insurance Program because of government plans to separate their diagnosis duties from drug dispensing. This would mean that patients would have to pay for the cost of medicines themselves.

Dispensing medicines to patients has for a long time been a major source of income for doctors in Taiwan, but under the government's health care reform proposals due to have gone into operation this month in the capital Taipei and in Kaohsiung City (with other parts of the island following later), doctors would be allowed to issue prescriptions but not dispense them. Instead, the dispensing of medicines would be exclusively in the hands of pharmacists.

Compromise Proposed By DoH Director General In an effort to mediate in the situation, Department of Health director general Chang Poya has suggested that in the first year of the separation policy certain doctors would be allowed to continue dispensing their prescriptions. These would be doctors at clinics which treat fewer than 20 patients a day, and doctors of patients under three years old. Around 30% of all clinics in Taiwan fit into this category, reports the Free China Journal.