Reported by Lin Hui-qin from Taipei

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) estimate, 193 tons of medications (the equivalent of more than 0.5 billion pills) were wastefully discarded over the past year. The MOHW also received from individuals unopened medications valued at NT$35,000 for recycling. The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) will increase the list of duplicate medication – starting from January 2019 – from 12 categories and 2700 drugs to 60 categories and about 6500 drugs, including antacids, gastrointestinal drugs, etc. The NHIA will reject the payment for duplicate medications without valid reason and patients have to bear the costs of the medicine.

【2018-11-05/Liberty Times】