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April 8, 2015

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Home » Metro » Society

City residents cite long queues as top health system grievance

By Cai Wenjun | April 8, 2015, Wednesday | Print Edition

RESEARCH released yesterday by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Fudan University underscored the problems plaguing the city’s healthcare system while also offering suggestions for industry reforms.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the academy, local residents identified long queues, unnecessary tests and expensive prescription medicines as the biggest problems with the city’s health services. Specifically, among 2,000 respondents who participated in the poll, 38.6 percent complained about long lines.

As the academy explained, many people from outside of Shanghai flock to its hospitals, where the quality of treatment is seen as being better than many other parts of China, leading to extended waits for local patients. This phenomenon, it explained, highlights the importance of treatment systems that guide people to smaller hospitals for less serious medical problems.

Doctors at many hospitals also order unnecessary tests and expensive medicines for their patients due to a lack of financial support from the government, the academy explained.

Meanwhile, the academy’s findings also showed that people with lower incomes and lower levels of education visited hospitals more frequently than their wealthier, better educated peers. This, in the academy’s view, indicates a need to reduce prices for drugs and medical treatment.

Separately, research released by Fudan University yesterday showed average personal medical spending nationwide growing from 30.2 yuan (US$4.87) in 1991 to 1,047.9 yuan in 2013, indicating a rate of increase that surpassed per capita GDP growth during the same period.

Hao Mo, one of the experts behind this research, called on authorities to rein in rising medical expenses.

“The government should increase investment to public hospitals, set maximum fees for each outpatient service and perfect the price system by raising medical staff’s service price while dropping the price of test and medicine,” Hao said.

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