China's national campaign to crack down on prescription drug abuse appears to be making progress, after figures revealed a drop of 6 percentage points in the use of antibiotics in hospitals from 2008 to 2011.
An annual report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on China's pharmaceutical market showed top-level hospitals in 21 provinces reported antibiotics use dropped from 25 percent in 2008 to 19 percent in 2011.
"The report illustrates the success we've made in the campaign," said Zhu Hengpeng, senior associate of the Institute of Economics, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"Antibiotics abuse drives up medicine costs," he added.
The side effects of antibiotics use can lead to more serious problems, including damage to organs, and disorders associated with the body's resistance to disease.
Many Chinese believe wrongly that antibiotics can reduce inflammation, meaning they are often misused to treat maladies like toothaches and fevers, according to experts.
In recent years, China attached growing importance to the issue, and have been urging hospitals to take more care when prescribing antibiotics.
In the latest move, it launched a surveillance system in July to document cases of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at 1,349 large public hospitals across the country.
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