Govt medical scheme saves lives, costs

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January 27, 2021

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Govt medical scheme saves lives, costs

Source: Xinhua | 00:05 UTC+8 January 27, 2021 |

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“Zhang Jiawang,” 73, survived a heart attack last month with successful surgery and recently returned home with his thankful family.

Had it happened three months earlier, the surgery would have put the family, already experiencing financial straits, deep in debt.

To save Zhang, the hospital used five coronary stents. The tiny stents, with an average weight of only 0.03 grams, are the main form of intervention used to keep arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease.

They were once priced about 13,000 yuan (US$2,000) each in China. Today they cost only 700 yuan on average. The massive price cut followed the initial round of the Chinese government’s centralized procurement program for high-value medical consumables last November.

According to the National Organized Joint Procurement Office of Medical Precious Consumables in Tianjin, since January 1, the discounted price of stents has been applied in 27 provincial-level administrations.

In Zhang’s case, the five stents cost him around 3,200 yuan, 93 percent less than the cost before the new program. The whole surgery cost the family less than 50,000 yuan, less than half what it used to cost.

“It’s a great burden off the family’s shoulders,” said “Hai Tang,” Zhang’s daughter-in-law. “We’re living in a good time.”

According to a report published by the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in September last year, the number of cardiovascular patients was estimated at 330 million. From 2009 to 2019, the number of operations for heart disease increased from 230,000 to more than 1 million a year.

About 1.5 million coronary stents are used in China every year, which previously cost patients around 15 billion yuan collectively.

The bulk-buying program is part of government-led efforts to address inflated prices and other issues in the distribution of pricey medical supplies, cutting out intermediate links, such as middlemen and pharmaceutical sales representatives, to buy directly from manufacturers.

“Our hearts are connected with those of our patients,” said Gao Xue, leader of the centralized purchasing team of the National Organized Joint Procurement Office of Medical Precious Consumables.

“It is the greatest joy to hear the tremendous benefit patients are getting from this program. There are more pleasant surprises in store as we continue to bring down inflated prices.”

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Govt medical scheme saves lives, costs

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