Regulators to lift price controls on most drugs starting June 1

Chinese regulators will lift price controls on most pharmaceutical drugs starting June 1 in hopes that the market-driven pricing system will keep medical costs in check, the National Development and Reform Commission announced yesterday.
Beijing has vowed to ease government controls in favor of market competition in as many areas as possible to improve efficiency, and experts say the upper-limit drug prices set by the government have become irrelevant because market prices are typically much lower.
“The new policy is merely a symbolic move,” said Shi Lichen, a Beijing-based medical services consultant.
The country’s most powerful regulating agency said on its official website it would abandon the decades-long practice of price controls, except for narcotics and some psychiatric drugs, as part of drug price reform.
The commission said it will leave the setting of drug prices to market competition while shifting to a role of supervising market behavior.
The statement said regulators would establish a price monitoring system and focus on detecting and punishing unlawful behaviors.
Chinese consumers have long complained of high drug costs. Authorities have in the last couple of years cracked down on rampant bribery by pharmaceutical companies which had inflated drug prices.
Experts said drug prices would fall when insurance companies get a bigger say.
“There won’t be any real changes in the pharmaceutical industry in China until a new medical price-setting mechanism is introduced where medical insurance plays a bigger role in the price control,” said John Cai, director of the Centre for Health Care Management and Policy at China Europe International Business School. AP

Education officials warn teacher who let student hold parasol for her

A Chinese grade school teacher was admonished yesterday for letting a student hold a parasol for her on a school outing after photos of the incident drew overwhelming criticism on social media.
The Baoshan district education bureau in Shanghai said in a statement that it was reminding teachers that they must discipline themselves and care for their students.
Chinese officials have long had the privilege of having underlings hold umbrellas to shield them from the elements, but the practice — once seen as a symbol of status — has been derided by people who see it as an act of arrogance indicative of an authoritarian regime.
Last year, a photo of President Xi Jinping holding his own umbrella in the rain won a top journalism prize, as it portrayed him as a normal person.
The photos of the small boy stretching up his arm to hold the parasol over his teacher’s head on a sunny day as she walked and then sat on a bench touched a nerve among the Chinese public, who responded with torrents of sarcasm and criticism, even after local media reported that the boy did it willingly.
Responding to public opinion, local education officials swiftly launched an investigation and announced their decision. AP