Residents line up for their COVID-19 throat swab test inside a hospital compound in Beijing, Dec 15, 2022. (ANDY WONG / AP)
BEIJING – Pharmaceutical enterprises across China are working at full capacity to ensure the supply of key medicines for COVID-19 control, as the country optimizes its COVID-19 response.
Workers at Xinjiang Yinduolan Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd have been working in three shifts, 24 hours a day, to ramp up production of medications for colds and respiratory infections.
Multiple measures have been rolled out by local authorities across the country to boost the output of medical supplies, including ensuring the supply of raw materials and energy
The company's daily output of anti-epidemic medicine has been increased from 40,000 boxes to 80,000 boxes, which are being sent to many places across the country, according to Mou Xiumei, the company's deputy manager.
Eight production lines of Xinjiang Uygur Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd are now working at full steam to meet the needs of markets, said company executive vice president Jiang Dajun.
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Sinopharm Xinjiang Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd recently established a working group responsible for the supply of anti-epidemic medicine in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said Li Chunhai, general manager of the company.
The company will expand its medicine supply and work with its subsidiaries across Xinjiang to fully ensure medicine supply in the region, Li added.
Meanwhile, Xinjiang's logistics enterprises have also stepped up efforts to promote the circulation of anti-epidemic medications to ensure meeting demand.
Located in north China's Hebei province, Anguo City is one of the largest distribution centers in the country for materials used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). More than 40 types of herbs are used in TCM and the annual volume of TCM materials reaches around 50,000 tonnes.
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Over 100 TCM enterprises in Anguo are currently accelerating production.
Wu Xueqian, deputy general manager of Hebei Jujing Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd said that TCM remedies are in great demand and short supply.
"To meet the needs of the public, the company's production lines are running at full speed to ensure the market supply of anti-epidemic TCM decoction pieces," said Wu, adding that the company's TCM decoction pieces are mainly sold in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong.
Northwestern Gansu Province's Minxian County is also home to TCM herbs. Medical enterprises in the county are working hard to produce key medicines, such as cough medicines. At present, the daily output of key medicines for COVID-19 control totals 150,000 boxes and TCM preparations reach 200,000 bags.
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Multiple measures have been rolled out by local authorities across the country to boost the output of medical supplies, including ensuring the supply of raw materials and energy, establishing new production lines and promoting technological upgrading, in order to help enterprises run at full capacity.