(ECNS) -- More regions in China are requiring hospitals to stop intravenous infusions for outpatients amid China's medical reform efforts.
Health authorities in Changzhi City of Shanxi Province issued the order one month ago. Now, in many hospitals in the city, halls are clear that were once crowded with outpatients receiving intravenous infusions.
An intravenous infusion of drugs or fluids is normally reserved for patients whose condition cannot be effectively treated by injected drugs, or drugs taken orally. But in China, many people believe intravenous infusions are the most effective way to treat an ailment, even the flu.
Lv Jinmei, a farmer in Shanxi, said she is used to receiving an intravenous infusion at the start of spring or when autumn turns into winter, because many people have told her this can prevent illness throughout the year.
An official from the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission said in 2011 that the country consumed more than 10 billion bottles of infusion fluid in 2009, roughly eight bottles on average for each inhabitant.
Jiangsu Province is the first in China to stop intravenous infusions at the provincial level. Each of the three top hospitals in the province's capital city of Nanjing offered intravenous infusions for more than 200,000 outpatients in the past.
Yan Ying, a PhD in public administration at Shanxi University, said the popularity of infusion fluid with the public also stems from the overprescribing of drugs and fluids for intravenous delivery by many hospitals.
Sanming City in Fujian Province, Gejiu City in Yunnan Province, and the Friendship Hospital in Urumqi, the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, are among regions and hospitals to have abolished intravenous infusions for outpatients.
The Chinese government has initiated medical reforms, with one priority being to reduce hospitals' financial reliance on drug sales.
