Bold, persistent reforms forge ahead under Xi's leadership
Pub Date:20-12-18 08:42
Source:Xinhua
Coronary stents, used to treat coronary heart disease, were once
priced at about 13,000 yuan (1,989 U.S. dollars) each in China. Now they
are expected to cost patients only 700 yuan on average.
The massive price slash ensued from the initial round of the Chinese
government's centralized procurement program for high-value medical
consumables in early November.
The program, which aims to bring down the pricing by large-scale
purchasing and squeezing out multiple layers of agent middlemen, owes
its origin to Sanming, an industrial city with a permanent population of