Chinese hospitals must stamp out corruption and stop selling high-priced drugs to maximise profits, Health Minister Chen Zhu was quoted by Xinhua as saying on Sunday. China, with a rapidly ageing population, is overhauling its healthcare system and has made big strides since 2003.
It now has a basic universal medical insurance system and heavily subsidises a growing list of essential drugs. But many challenges remain in the country of 1.3 billion people, including a lack of state funding for hospitals, where drug sales, at often over-inflated prices, remain a major source of income.