(Yicai) Sept. 2 -- Eastern Jiangsu province has become the first Chinese provincial-level region to expand the country’s centralized drug procurement program, first rolled out in 2019, to medical services from drugs and medical apparatus and has put non-invasive prenatal genetic screening services for Down Syndrome up for tender.

Bids for high-throughput genetic sequencing testing services for Down Syndrome are being solicited from firms and medical institutions, Jiangsu province's healthcare authority said on Aug. 30. Those selected can provide the services for two years, and the period may be extended in some instances.

For companies, only bids under CNY500 (USD70) per test will be accepted, and all bids under CNY375 will be accepted, the regulator said. For those offering a price between CNY375 and CNY500, only the lowest half will be chosen. While for medical institutions, their prices will be ordered in ascending order and the first 90 percent will be selected, it added.

This is a fraction of the current cost of such tests, at between CNY1,000 (USD141) and CNY2,000. In most parts of China, these genetic tests are not available on the medical insurance scheme and individuals have to pay for themselves. Only a handful of places such as Beijing, Tianjin and northern Hebei province provide it for free or will reimburse the costs through their healthcare insurance programs.

Jiangsu's inclusion of prenatal genetic testing services into the bulk-buy program is part of the country’s pro-birth drive. Faced with a greying population, China scrapped the one-child policy in 2016 and replaced it with a pro-birth policy in 2021, allowing couples to have up to three children. But this has failed to spur the birthrate and the country’s population has shrunk for the past two years.

To help counter the dwindling population, so far, 19 provincial-level regions have included assisted reproductive technology within the scope of local medical insurance, according to the latest data from the National Healthcare Security Administration.

China introduced the centralized drug procurement program in 2019 to lower the cost of medicines through economies of scale. Drug developers who wish their medicines to be part of the nation’s vast medical insurance program have to offer competitive prices. Gradually the program expanded to also include medical consumables and medical apparatus.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor