Official responds over imported medicine pricing
Updated: 2013-09-08 15:40
(Xinhua)
|
|||||||||
BEIJING - A Chinese official has cited tax, additional pricing by hospitals and bloated circulation fees as the cause of high-end imported medicine to be sold at higher prices on the mainland than in Hong Kong.
Guo Jianying, a senior official with the pricing division of the National Development and Reform Commission, made the remarks on Saturday while attending a health-themed forum sponsored by Peking University.
The comments came amid heated public debate over Hong Kong's lower prices for high-end imported pharmaceuticals than the mainland, which reportedly have lured many mainland buyers.
Guo said among the more than 300 foreign original medicines that fall within the supervision of mainland authorities, around 80 percent are sold at prices higher than in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, while some 70 percent are cheaper than in Europe, the United States and Japan.
Explaining why some of medicines are sold in Hong Kong cheaper than on the mainland, he said that in the special administrative region, imported medicine there will not have a tariff of 5 percent on the manufacturer's price, or a further value-added tax of 17 percent as on the mainland.
In Hong Kong, there is no 15-percent additional cost based on the manufacturer's price by hospitals, which are designed as part of policies to ensure hospitals have appropriate funding sources, Guo said.
Moreover, circulation fees for imported drugs sold in Hong Kong will not be as much as around 20 percent of the manufacturer's price as on the mainland, he said.
Guo said on the mainland, the government's drug pricing regulation is mainly to place a cap on retail prices.
Such regulation does not cover all medicines, but only those essential drugs that are included in the health insurance scheme and those that have a monopoly over the market, he said.
- Rodman back from DPRK without jailed American
- Abe speech helps secure 2020 Games for Tokyo
- Djokovic, Nadal set up blockbuster US Open final
- Xi discusses bilateral ties with Kazakh parliament speaker
- 'Poetic' Italian documentary takes top honor at Venice filmfest
- Welcome with a bang
- DPRK top leader meets visiting Rodman
- Luxury car show in Vancouver
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Testing times for G20 leaders |
For many, Chinese dream means happiness |
Private push |
Righting the wrongs of patent rights |
Growth driver |
Wild Africa: The new attraction to Chinese tourists |
Today's Top News
Rodman back from DPRK without jailed American
Co-op with Kazakhstan enjoys broad prospect: Xi
China to improve standards for elderly care
Bizwoman in rail chief case charged with bribery
Chinese scientists publish new findings on H7N9
Xi proposes a 'new Silk Road' with Central Asia
Tokyo wins 2020 Olympics bid
NASA launches explorer to moon
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |