Lei Jufang: Suggests Increasing the Proportion of Ethnic Medicines in the Medical Insurance Catalog.

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2014-03-18 15:39

　　Lei Jufang, the “Queen of Tibetan Medicine,” has consistently been working hard to promote traditional ethnic medicines. At this year’s Two Sessions, Lei Jufang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chairwoman of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine, submitted three proposals: “A Proposal on Further Clarifying the Classification of Ethnic Medicines in Medical Insurance,” “A Proposal on Adding a Category for Ethnic Medicines in Drug Registration Management,” and “A Proposal on Ensuring ‘Food Safety on the Tip of the Tongue’ Starting with Public Science Education.” These three proposals offer recommendations for promoting the development of ethnic medicine from different perspectives.

　　Regarding the phenomenon of a negative growth in the number of ethnic medicine varieties included in the National Medical Insurance Catalog, Lei Jufang suggests: “In the new edition of the National Medical Insurance Catalog, the number of ethnic medicine varieties should be expanded proportionally to the historical growth rate of support for traditional Chinese medicines, while also broadening the dosage forms of existing varieties. The new edition of the National Medical Insurance Catalog should further refine the catalog of ethnic medicines, implement specialized drug use based on medical disciplines, and highlight the distinctive disease categories for which ethnic medicines are particularly effective. A pool of expert reviewers for ethnic medicines should be established, and the ethnic medicine section of the new National Medical Insurance Catalog should be jointly reviewed by experts in ethnic medicine as well as experts in both traditional Chinese and Western medicine.”

　　The proposal for the classification of ethnic medicines suggests that, in order to address the significant policy barriers still hindering the development of ethnic medicine, separate guiding principles should be established specifically for the review and approval of new ethnic medicine products. In the review and approval process for new ethnic medicines, under the technical guidance of drug review personnel from the National Medical Products Administration, ethnic medicine experts should take charge of the theoretical and clinical aspects. At the same time, experts in traditional Chinese medicine and specialists from ethnic regions should be invited to jointly evaluate the quality standards and pharmacological effects of ethnic medicines. Additionally, the number of clinical research bases for ethnic medicine should be appropriately increased. Fourth, ethnic medicine varieties currently undergoing review that continue to follow the review principles applicable to traditional Chinese medicines should be treated differently from those traditional Chinese medicines.

　　Finally, Lei Jufang suggested increasing public education on food-as-medicine products through mass media. The publicity and reporting should cover the following topics: the differences between health foods and ordinary foods; the differences between health foods and pharmaceuticals; how to identify counterfeit health foods; and a detailed explanation of every stage—from cultivation and harvesting to storage, processing, and sales—of food-as-medicine products, including specific quality control indicators and the exact standards that must be met to ensure food safety and quality. This would help guide consumers to continuously enhance their self-protection awareness and improve their ability to distinguish genuine products from counterfeit ones.

　　Source: Shanghai Securities Journal

　　Website: http://www.cnstock.com/v_news/sns_jd/2014qglh/2014lhszsd/201403/2938632.htm

Committee Member Lei Jufang: “Food safety on the tip of the tongue” must start with science popularization.

(Two Sessions) Chairman of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine: Clearly Define the Classification of Ethnic Medicines in the Medical Insurance Catalogue