New priorities for China healthcare

China's $124-billion overhaul of its healthcare system needs to address the prescription of unnecessary drugs and treatments - a widespread practice relied upon to finance the medical sector, the World Bank said yesterday.

China is spending 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) to reform its healthcare system over the next three years as part of an ambitious plan to provide basic medical coverage and insurance to the country's 1.3 billion people.

The country's mostly State-owned, public hospitals rely on profits from the sale of drugs and expensive treatments and tests to cover operating expenses. The facilities have been accused of aggressively prescribing expensive and sometimes unnecessary drugs and treatment, creating a heavy burden on patients and wasting medical resources.