To curb drug waste, we need to focus on solving the "big" problem
2024-01-04
Recently, the National Health Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Medical Products Administration jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Saving Drug Resources and curbing drug waste. The Plan mainly proposes specific work measures and requirements from the aspects of drug production, clinical medication, drug circulation, publicity and guidance, management of discarded drugs, and organization and implementation. The data on drug waste is alarming. For example, 10 years ago, a report pointed out that China wastes 15000 tons of expired drugs every year, and the value of drugs wasted by households in China exceeds 10 billion yuan each year. After the COVID-19 epidemic and respiratory infectious diseases, more people have formed the habit of storing drugs, or caused more drug waste. Like resources such as medicine and food, any waste means loss. For example, drug waste in the production and distribution process is a loss for related enterprises; Families waste medicine and consume their financial resources. The waste of medical insurance drugs also wastes medical insurance funds. China is a resource scarce country, and drug waste is a huge consumption of related raw materials. In the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was proposed to implement a comprehensive strategy of conservation and promote the intensive utilization of various resources. Medicines should naturally be included in the scope of comprehensive conservation strategies. The introduction of the "Plan" by the five departments this time is not only to implement the requirements of the 20th National Congress report, but also to comply with the public opinion. Due to the serious waste of drugs, there have been continuous suggestions in recent years to curb this waste. The Plan provides a "big prescription" to curb drug waste from various aspects, covering drug production, clinical use, drug circulation, publicity and guidance, abandoned drug management, and organizational implementation, forming a full chain governance model. When each link is simultaneously put into action, it will bring about a cumulative governance effect, and the comprehensive savings effect can be expected. The author believes that in order to maximize the containment effect on drug waste, the key is to start with the word "big". From a practical perspective, the phenomenon of causing a significant amount of drug waste is all related to "big". For example, some hospitals or doctors prescribe large prescriptions, which result in some drugs not being used up and causing waste due to expiration, which is regrettable. Objectively speaking, "big prescriptions" are not entirely the fault of doctors. Some patients, in order to avoid going to the hospital multiple times, specifically request doctors to prescribe more medication. Some doctors prescribe large prescriptions for drug commissions. In this regard, the "Plan" requires that appropriate dosage prescriptions be issued based on the patient's condition, and medication should not be prescribed solely for the purpose of increasing income or seeking personal gain. For example, some drugs are packaged in large quantities. Some pharmaceutical companies adopt large packaging in order to sell more drugs, and in addition, hospital pharmacies and pharmacies do not sell them separately. Therefore, large packaging drugs will directly flow to patients, causing waste if patients do not use up their recovery drugs. This plan promotes appropriate drug packaging and also proposes the disassembly and allocation of large packaging drugs for outpatient and emergency departments. For example, the household "big medicine box" also causes drug waste. A few years ago, a research report estimated that about 78.6% of households in China have medicine boxes. The current proportion may be even higher, especially for families with elderly or children, as well as those who purchase medicine and receive medical insurance reimbursement. There are more types and quantities of medicine reserves, larger medicine boxes, and many medicines that cannot be used up are wasted. Five departments proposed a plan to encourage family medicine
Edit：GuoGuo Responsible editor：FangZhiYou
Source：people.cn
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