China has moved to control healthcare costs from Beijing for its citizens, setting plans to purchase and distribute hundreds of essential medicines that are now mostly sold at huge mark-up prices through hospital pharmacies.
The measures are part of an Rmb850bn ($124bn, €88bn, ￡75bn) overhaul of the country's ailing health system, aimed at securing basic medical services for every citizen and increasing efficiency and transparency in drug use.
When Beijing began reforming its communist economy 30 years ago it discontinued free healthcare for all and, by 2000, the majority of the population was uninsured. Although the authorities have since tried to build a new healthcare system, large numbers of rural residents and migrant workers still cannot afford healthcare.