State Council highlights key health issues

China will roll out a raft of stronger supportive policies to boost the development of the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries, as part of the country's efforts to strengthen areas of weakness and enhance market competitiveness, the State Council, or China's Cabinet, said on Friday.

Efforts will be made to further modernize the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries and make them more resilient, according to the State Council Executive Meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang.

Such efforts will enhance the country's supply capacity of high-end medicines, key technologies and raw and auxiliary materials, and shore up weak links in high-end medical equipment, the meeting noted.

Attendees at the meeting stressed that the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries have an important role in supporting the country's healthcare sector, and have a direct bearing on people's lives, health and high-quality development.

As research and development and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector face great difficulties, take a long time and require large investment, stronger support at every link will be provided, to help leading pharmaceutical enterprises survive and thrive, as well as enhance their market competitiveness, the meeting said.

It is imperative to attach great importance to the promotion and application of domestically developed medical equipment. Furthermore, relevant support policies should be fine-tuned to enable its upgrading, the meeting noted.

Meanwhile, the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine should be fully leveraged. Greater efforts will be called for in order to ensure its development and security, according to the meeting.

More work will be done to nurture talent with professional training in both pharmaceutical and engineering fields. Colleges and enterprises will be supported to jointly cultivate a number of leading talent in the field of medical equipment, according to the meeting.

The meeting adopted the Action Plan for High-Quality Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry (2023-25) and the Action Plan for High-Quality Development of the Medical Equipment Industry (2023-25).

The meeting also decided to advance government-subsidized housing, catalyze effective investment, and facilitate a new development model in the real estate industry.

Dedicated efforts will be made to ensure the well-calibrated planning and design of government-subsidized housing projects, and further steps will be taken both in terms of reform and in driving innovation to ensure the quality of housing.