Reform needs to break medicine interest chain

Since the caps on the prices of retail medicines were lifted, the cost of buying many medicines has risen. A resident in Xi'an, Shaanxi province in Northwest China, for example, found that the price of the digoxin tablets he takes has risen from 6.7 to 68 yuan ($11) per box. Comments:

It is high circulation costs that lead to the high prices of medicine. From the production line to the hospital, then to the prescription of the doctor, every step costs money. When there is corruption involved, the cost can be astonishingly high. Worse, the caps on retail prices hardly help because the corrupt can always find a way to evade them. It is time to introduce a new mechanism to lower medicine prices that suits the market environment.

People's Daily, June 8