On the 19th, the National Health Commission held a press conference on "Promoting the High Quality Development of Health Care and Protecting the Life and Health of the People". Fu Wei, Director of the Grassroots Department of the National Health Commission, stated at the meeting that this year's "Government Work Report" clearly stated the requirement to expand the types of drugs used for chronic and common diseases in grassroots medical and health institutions. The National Health Commission will also implement existing policies in accordance with work arrangements, while further optimizing and improving the grassroots drug use guarantee mechanism.
At the meeting, a reporter asked: During the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, "accessibility of medication" became the focus of some representative committee members' proposals. This year's government work report also proposed "expanding the types of medication for chronic and common diseases in grassroots medical and health institutions." In what aspects will we ensure the allocation of drugs for chronic and common diseases in grassroots medical and health institutions, so that patients can use the necessary basic drugs at their doorstep?
Regarding this, Fu Wei stated that due to the differences in functional positioning, scale conditions, service capabilities, personnel strength, etc. between grassroots medical and health institutions and urban hospitals, there will be certain differences and requirements in the allocation and quantity of drugs used. This also affects to some extent the development of services provided by grassroots institutions for the diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently occurring diseases, as well as receiving referral patients from higher-level hospitals. In recent years, with the improvement of grassroots service capabilities and the promotion of county-level medical community construction, it can be said that significant progress and results have been made in both policy and practice in addressing this issue. This year, the Government Work Report also clearly stated the requirement to expand the types of drugs used for chronic and common diseases in grassroots medical and health institutions. The National Health Commission will also implement existing policies in accordance with the work deployment, while further optimizing and improving the grassroots drug use guarantee mechanism. The key is to focus on four aspects:
One is to further facilitate the connection between township health centers and county hospitals in medication use through the construction of a closely knit county-level medical community, in order to achieve the unity of medication catalogs and the circulation of prescriptions. At the same time, it also encourages various regions to rely on the construction of county-level medical communities, such as central pharmacies and shared traditional Chinese medicine rooms, to establish grassroots drug shortage registration and distribution systems through such construction, so as to solve the medication problem of rural residents through top-down integration.
The second is to enhance the homogenization level of drug management within the county-level medical community, promote the pre examination and evaluation of prescriptions within the medical community, and build and strengthen the drug management throughout the entire chain of drug supply, storage, use, and supervision within the county-level medical community, ensuring that the public can have drugs available at the grassroots level and use them with confidence and rationality.
The third is to comprehensively review the existing medication policies and drug usage in medical and health institutions, study and formulate guiding principles for drug selection in grassroots medical and health institutions, coordinate the management of grassroots drug catalogs, further expand the types of chronic and common disease drugs used in grassroots medical and health institutions, and enhance accessibility.
Fourthly, we will work with relevant departments to study and develop a drug linkage management mechanism for grassroots medical and health institutions. By strengthening the level of pharmaceutical services at the grassroots level, enhancing the ability to respond to drug shortages at the grassroots level, and improving the drug monitoring and evaluation system, we will continue to improve the medication situation at the grassroots level and ensure rational and safe medication.