The bad side-effects of China’s campaign to cut drug costs
Poor quality is one. An angry public is another
ANAESTHETICS THAT don’t put patients to sleep. Laxatives that fail to clear bowels. Blood-pressure medication with little effect. These are some of the problems that doctors have encountered in China’s public hospitals. They have been speaking out in recent weeks, questioning the quality of the country’s drugs and urging reform of the government’s procurement programme. The public has chimed in, too. “Medicine that doesn’t work, no matter how cheap, is useless,” wrote one user of Weibo, a social-media platform.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Drugs and dissent”
From the February 1st 2025 edition
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