Recently, I have observed that the price of traditional Chinese medicine has shown a state of "sesame blossoming and high growth" in recent years, especially this year, which can be said to be in a state of "skyrocketing". This change has made many patients who have relied on traditional Chinese medicine for many years miserable, and made many families who are not rich even more stretched.
I can't help but sigh, now it is really not easy for ordinary people to see a doctor!
Today, I will use an article to analyze why the price of Chinese medicine is rising, and what harm is caused to patients and Chinese medicine after the price of Chinese medicine has risen sharply.
With the changes of the times and the advancement of science and technology, the price increase of Chinese medicinal materials is not a new thing, affected by climate, environment, soil, medicinal materials growth cycle and other factors, it is normal for the price of traditional Chinese medicine to change slightly within a period of time.
However, in the past two years, many of the common Chinese medicinal materials have risen in price to varying degrees. Its increase is so large that it can be said to be "skyrocketing".
For example, the "angelica", which is used in many basic prescriptions, has risen from about 42 to about 242 now;
The medicinal herb "sour jujube kernel", which is very suitable for middle-aged and elderly people, has risen from more than 400 to more than 1400;
"Party ginseng" as a substitute for ginseng, is well known to everyone, the price has risen from about 63 to about 238, and now it is no longer embarrassing to say that it is "cheap and easy to use".
Even the very common, easy-to-grow "licorice", the price is already above 50, an increase of more than 200%!
Not only that, it is not difficult to find that many Chinese medicinal materials have increased by more than 100% in the Chinese herbal medicine market.
The "rise" of the medicinal materials market is bound to affect the market of proprietary Chinese medicines. Not long ago, Jiuzhitang issued a price adjustment notice, raising the supply price and retail price of a number of proprietary Chinese medicines, including Liuwei Dihuang Pill and Xiaoyao Pill.
Not only that, the stock prices of major listed pharmaceutical companies are also continuing to rise. This verifies the "butterfly effect": it affects the whole body, and eventually causes many ordinary people to not be able to drink Chinese medicine.
Why is there a rare "skyrocketing" phenomenon in Chinese medicinal materials? The reasons are none other than these three points:
First, the cost of medicinal materials has increased.
Most of the traditional Chinese medicines require a lot of labor from planting to harvesting, and the rapid social and economic development has greatly increased labor costs, thus affecting the price of medicinal materials.
For example, the picking of honeysuckle, it used to be a dozen yuan a day for one person, and now many people with a daily salary of more than a dozen people are unwilling to do it, and can only be forced to increase labor costs.
Second, the resources of good medicinal materials are reduced.
The yield of Chinese medicinal materials is affected by many factors, climate changes, nutrients in the soil, will lead to fewer and fewer wild medicinal herbs, the less expensive.
I once talked to a medicine farmer who said that a ubiquitous herb like kudzu used to be able to harvest a lot of it in a day, but now it doesn't fit much in a basket in a day.
Third, artificial hype.
Some people say that medicinal herbs are expensive because the market demand is greater than the supply, but I don't think so. In my opinion, this wave of medicinal material prices "skyrocketed", and it has little to do with supply and demand.
In the three years of the epidemic, traditional Chinese medicine has made outstanding contributions to the health of the people, and more and more people choose to believe in traditional Chinese medicine and choose to use traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases, the supply and demand of the Chinese herbal medicine market will be a little tight, and the price will rise to a certain extent.
However, the price fluctuation is not in line with the circulation law of the market.
Some lawbreakers, by controlling information, creating poor information, vigorously speculating the price of Chinese medicinal materials, creating crises and anxiety out of thin air, many people who do not know what to do will follow the trend and rush to buy Chinese medicinal materials, so that they can make huge profits from them.
This wave of drug prices soared, and the harm brought was very great. Let me briefly list three:
The first harm is to increase the burden on the people.
The price of drugs rises, and the people directly bear the consequences. However, the fact is that the speed of making money of the people cannot keep up with the rising speed of the price of medicinal materials, and the consumption power cannot keep up, and most of them have two methods: buy drugs at a more expensive price, so that the original family burden is heavier; Find low-cost medicinal herbs instead, but the efficacy is not guaranteed.
At a time when the price of most medicinal materials is rising, it is difficult to find medicinal materials with very low prices, and it is inevitable to buy inferior medicinal materials in the process of searching.
Inferior medicinal materials mean that there may be no curative effect, but damage to health, after use, the patient's condition will not improve, will question the doctor's medical skills, no longer trust Chinese medicine, but turn to Western medicine treatment, seriously affecting the reputation of Chinese medicine.
The second hazard is that proprietary Chinese medicine enterprises are implicated, and small and medium-sized enterprises may face a crisis.
The price increase of raw materials for Chinese medicinal materials has brought a knock-on impact on the entire production chain and consumption chain. In the production process of proprietary Chinese medicines, there is no way to produce one less raw material, resulting in rising production costs, and the price of proprietary medicines may be forced or follow the trend, if consumers are unwilling to pay, this will become a problem for enterprises.
The third hazard is that pharmaceutical farmers have fallen into a trap.
So far, the scale of cultivation of many traditional Chinese medicines has increased, and many medicinal farmers have joined, but many traditional Chinese medicines have a long growth cycle, and when the medicinal materials are planted, the price may plummet.
In the face of this situation, Chinese medicine practitioners did not think that they were going to make a lot of money as everyone thought, but many were worried.
Why?
You may wish to think about it, the rise of medicinal materials has disrupted the entire medicinal materials industry, and Chinese medicine has been affected, who benefits?
It is the capitalists, behind them, representing the interests of Western medical groups, if they can manipulate the price of Chinese medicinal materials to collapse Chinese medicine, they are undoubtedly successful.
In recent years, more and more people have accepted the treatment concept of TCM and turned to TCM treatment, which has affected the interests of Western medical groups, as I mentioned above, the supply and demand relationship in the TCM market will not lead to such a big change in price.
Who can say that medicinal herbs are caused by the needs of ordinary people? Who can say that the medicinal herbs will eventually flow into the hands of the people?
Capitalists hoard medicinal materials and use the media to create momentum, saying that the supply of certain medicinal materials on the market is now seriously insufficient, and the price is about to rise, creating anxiety and making everyone rush to buy.
In the face of this situation, don't panic, wipe your eyes, don't follow the trend, it's the most correct choice.
I suggest that if you don't just need it, you don't necessarily have to use medicine, traditional Chinese medicine has been passed down for thousands of years, and there are many methods and means of treatment and conditioning, such as moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, acupressure massage, etc., which have good effects on some diseases or friends in a sub-health state.
If the medication is just needed, it is recommended that these friends find a professional doctor and adjust the medication according to the condition, if the picture buys inferior medicinal materials cheaply, it is not worth the loss.
I have a very deep affection for TCM, and when I see this chaos of TCM, I feel very uncomfortable, and I can only do my best to prepare prescriptions for patients. Let them take fewer detours and spend less money.
At the same time, I also appeal to the relevant departments to intervene as soon as possible to adjust the price of Chinese medicinal materials, rectify the market chaos, and let Chinese medicine truly benefit the people.
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