New Catalogue with New Smoking Cessation Medicaments
Almost all doctors are requesting to the government to list smoking cessation medicines in the new Drug Catalogue of National Basic Medical Insurance for to help more smokers to quit smoking.
Smoking became a very dangerous habit in a lot of countries. But in China it has become the biggest public health problem.
Smoking is very much part of Chinese culture. Many Chinese like to smoke not only after a meal but during a meal. Expensive cigarette brands like Panda and Zhonghua are commonly given as presents to bosses and parents and are offered as a welcoming gesture to house guests. Some brands link themselves to good causes. A message on packs of Zhongnanhai brand cigarettes reads: “For each pack you consume, you are devoting your part to the charity Hope Project.”
According to a recent data from a pamphlet about smoking, one million people die from smoking and related diseases every year in China. If it will not be completely controlled, then smoking will kill about 100 million people annually and half of them will die between the ages of 35 and 60.
Dr. Xiao Dan with the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine names three major therapies used at her institute: nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), bupropion hydrochloride and varenicline. The cost of each course of treatment ranges from 600 yuan to over 2,000 yuan.
She explained that of those trying to quit cold turkey, less than 3 percent succeed. Using NRT therapy can triple the success ratio.
The costs of these therapies can also be a financial load for country. However, Masakazu Nakamura, Director of the Department of Health Promotion and Education, at the Osaka Medical Center for Health Science and Promotion, successfully led his research team and several other medical societies to make smoking cessation treatments restored in Japan in April 2006. He said after that, outpatient smoking cessation clinics in Japan raised from 300 to over 8,000.
Further, Australia, Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Canada, the US, South Korea, France, Macao and Taiwan have already listed smoking cessation medicines in their medical reimbursement catalogues.
China’s current catalogue covers over 2,000 medicines, including 1,305 western medicines and 893 traditional Chinese medicines. The new catalogue which is to be implemented with the National Essential Drug List will be published by the end of November.
