China Post tests water medicine distribution and it is planned to distribute 1/3 essential drugs in five years

Thousands of Chinese postal outlets can do other than mail items, savings loans, bill payments, and what else can they do?

Medical delivery may be a good choice.

Informed sources disclosed that at present, China Post Group Corporation is trying to merge and reorganize social companies, obtain licenses to enter the field of pharmaceutical circulation, use the existing network to establish a specialized pharmaceutical distribution network, and form a postal company that specializes in the management of pharmaceutical logistics. In fact, the newspaper was informed that the postal companies in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia have been involved in the distribution of essential drugs under the leadership of the local government, and Gansu, as the third experimental site, has just received the basic distribution of Gannan Prefecture in Gansu Province one month ago. Order.

It is reported that China Post has said at an internal meeting that it is necessary to extend the pilot to the whole country in the next five years and to take advantage of postal outlets to occupy a one-third share of the base drug distribution market.

Post new attempts

Informed sources disclosed that since 2010, China Post has continuously communicated with the Ministry of Health, Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments, hoping to intervene in the distribution of essential drugs. However, for the postal system, pharmaceutical distribution has a natural technical threshold. "For example, there are professional cold storage facilities, equipment, and a detailed record of storage, temperature difference, and delivery." The above-mentioned personnel of the postal system revealed that most medicines are fragile packaging and cannot be treated like throwing parcels during loading and unloading. Treated as the same, and the quality of drug distribution must be monitored throughout the process, these factors restrict the entry of the postal system into the field of drug distribution.

Earlier this year, China Post issued a postal service plan for China Post to carry out medical logistics services for all postal companies, requesting Hunan, Yunnan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Anhui, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Xinjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Shanghai and Jiangsu. Sixteen provinces in Gansu and Guizhou actively carried out pharmaceutical logistics distribution services.

China Post hopes to distribute basic drug distribution across the country, but progress has not been optimistic. The newspaper learned that the current postal service is trying to enter the field of pharmaceutical circulation through mergers and reorganizations, and then use the existing network to establish a medical distribution network.

Gansu Hao Post Medicine Logistics Co., Ltd. is a new attempt. “The postal company has invested in holding local distribution companies with good returns, and has returned to the postal routes, borrowed the original resources of the knowledgeable people, and quickly completed the professional distribution.” Yang Jinshan, general manager of Gansu Haoyou Company, told this newspaper that the postal service is an absolute majority shareholder. The other 30% is a social contribution.

According to Yang Jinshan, his former commercial company had more than 100 professional drug distribution stations in Gansu, pharmacists, equipment, and cold storage. Gannan's Gansu government has approved the delivery of the base drug in its jurisdiction. Post company to do it. Statistics show that in 2010, the sales volume of medicines in Gansu Province was around 4.8 billion yuan, and in 2011 it was estimated to reach 6 billion yuan. Yang Jinshan said that their distribution target is 1 billion yuan, and then reach 2 billion yuan.

Although Gansu Haoyue has officially started the distribution of basic drugs as early as November 2011, Yang Jinshan’s future goals are far beyond these. He stated that Yuyue Mail will also be involved in the distribution of non-base drugs in the future, and is currently engaged in some medical devices. The company negotiates with some non-base drug manufacturers.

Pilot breakout

It is understood that the bidding price of basic medicines is under the control of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the intermediary links are not too profitable. Most commercial companies are avoiding the distribution of essential drugs. Due to the delay in distribution, medical institutions at the grassroots and county levels are often in a state of medicinal use.

“A lot of commercial companies don’t even get this part of the business. The government has handed over this part of the business to our postal service to ensure the implementation of the basic drug system.” Another postal man introduced the postal service, the first is to enter the delivery Market, this is also the idle time to revitalize the postal grassroots network.

It is understood that the flow of drugs distributed by commercial pharmaceutical companies is generally assigned to the second-level distributors by the first-tier distributors, and sub-divided to the third-level by the second-level distributors. The drug dealers then send them to the rural areas and raise prices at various levels, which also leads to drug quality and safety. The bureau cannot monitor the entire process. Ningxia, which started piloting five years ago, has been clarified on the basis of unified tendering, uniform pricing, unified distribution, and designation of the postal service, so that the whole process of supervision is operational.

In the pilot project in Ningxia, the local government allowed the postal company to run drug distribution as a pharmaceutical company. However, due to the lack of infrastructure and professional staff for quality management and inventory management, the pilot project did not go smoothly. "In the beginning, the drug delivery system was used to send drugs. This is certainly not correct. Posts must use their own networks to graft onto professional companies and distribution stations." Ningxia Post System personnel told this newspaper.

It is understood that the drug delivery station of the Ningxia Post Subsidiary has preliminarily set up a post for itself, and then began to take the form of a merger and pharmaceutical commercial company. Another pilot in Inner Mongolia began to establish pharmaceutical commercial companies and distribution stations in 2011. However, the entry of the postal service is not always smooth. “The local government of Ningxia compelled the unified distribution of the base medicines from the postal service. However, it turns out that the postal family is unsuccessful and the market has begun to fight back. The performance is that the source of medicines is not given to the postal.” Ningxia postal system personnel told this newspaper, and later the local government compromised again. Dividing the market structure, a state-controlled logistics company and a private enterprise joined in forming a distribution alliance with the postal service before re-stabilizing the ecological chain of local drug distribution.