Following Shanghai and several cities in Guangdong province, the Chinese capital has begun to provide online drug purchase services through individual medical insurance accounts, covering 300 pharmacies citywide to facilitate the purchasing of medicines by members of the public.

The Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau announced on Monday that insured individuals in Beijing can use their personal medical insurance accounts on two platforms, Meituan and JD, to purchase over-the-counter drugs online.

The delivery and packaging fees will be borne by the purchaser, and the purchased drugs will be promptly delivered by the online platform after placement of the order.

Beijing resident Li Yubo was among the first to try purchasing OTC drugs through the online platform after he heard the news.

"The process is simple — just log in to the platform, select drugs marked with a 'medical insurance' blue label, submit the order and choose 'Beijing medical insurance personal account payment'," he said. "It's so handy that I don't need to rush out on foot to buy medicine for a fever when I feel terrible. It's a lovely policy for single people like me."

The 300 designated retail pharmacies cover all the districts in the city.

The medical insurance bureau said that it will explore and study the practicality of online purchases of prescription drugs to provide insured individuals with more convenient and efficient services.

It also plans to continuously increase the number of designated retail pharmacies for online purchase of OTC drugs. At the same time, it will continue to strengthen the supervision of the use of medical insurance funds by designated retail pharmacies, and monitor drug prices to ensure the safe and efficient operation of medical insurance funds.

One store of the Jinxiang pharmacy chain in Beijing said it had received 21 online orders by noon on Monday, with seven to eight orders utilizing the new policy, mainly for the purchase of cold medicines.

"This policy will have some impact on offline drug purchases, as people will reduce visits to pharmacies," a staff member said. "However, if they are unsure about which medicine to use, they will still come to us for related inquiries. This policy may be a bit challenging for the elderly to use. I think it mainly focuses on younger people."

Beijing resident Li Xiaoli, who also tried to purchase medicine online on Monday, said there were issues with payment, such as situations where medical insurance could not be used.

"There may be a need for improvements in the payment platform," she said. "It's new. It takes time to be better."

New online retail channels for pharmaceuticals have grown rapidly in recent years.

In July 2021, the National Medical Insurance Administration issued guidance that promoted "Internet + medical services" — exploring information sharing to achieve integrated services such as prescription circulation, online payment settlement and the home delivery of medicines.

Starting June 7, seven cities in Guangdong, including Dongguan and Zhongshan, started online drug purchases with medical insurance payments. Shanghai initiated an earlier pilot program.

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