Lawmakers Urge Tighter Control of Medicine SalesChinese lawmakers Tuesday called for tighter control of the sale of medicines to deal with such problems as price hikes and false advertisements for medicine.The Standing Committee of China's top law-making body, the National People's Congress (NPC), had a panel debate on the draft amendments to the Law on the Administration of Medicines. Participants proposed reduction of the procedures for the approval and distribution of medicines, so as to lower medicine prices and eliminate the practice of seeking kickbacks. Wang Mingshi, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said that since there are too many departments administrating the making and selling of medicine, that often fail to cooperate, loopholes and malpractice find their way in the circulation of medicine. Wang proposed streamlining and improving the medicine administration departments. Jiang Zhenghua, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, suggested selecting only one department with profound technological background to perform the duty of supervising medicine, which also meets the requirements by the World Health Organization. Zhou Guangzhao, also vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, echoed the suggestion by noting that since medicine is a special good, it is in line with the international practice to choose one authoritative department to intensify the administration. Several other participants, however, feared that such a move might lead to the abuse of power and more malpractice. Compared with previous draft amendments, the current draft has increased restrictions and punishment for exorbitant pricing of medicines and kickbacks in the course of distribution. |
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