Effective

A landmark medical reform that separates drug sales from medical treatment at public hospitals and scraps the previous markup on drugs in the old pricing system was implemented a month ago. China News Service reported that many patients said the price of drugs has decreased. According to Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, the patient flow at tertiary hospitals has reduced by 15.1 percent and patients would gradually start going to medical institutions at the grassroots for treatment of non-critical diseases.