During the Fifth Session of the Twelfth NPC and the Fifth Session of the Twelfth CPPCC National Committee, the “Voice and Responsibility” Symposium of the Ninth CPPCC Members from Medicine Sector 2017 sponsored by 25 medicine associations in China including the Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprise Management Association and China Medical Pharmaceutical Material Association was held grandly in Beijing on March 4. The Symposium was attended by more than 40 deputies to the National People's Congress and CPPCC members from the medicine sector. The leaders and experts from National Development and Reform Commission, National Health and Family Planning Commission, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, China Food and Drug Administration, and State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine were invited to be present to listen to the opinions and suggestions of the NPC deputies and CPPCC members.

At the Symposium, the NPC deputies and CPPCC members discussed freely about the policies and hot development topics in the medicine sector, and made their comments on a number of issues referred to in the proposals collected and summarized and put forward many targeted and constructive suggestions.

Since 2009, the “Voice and Responsibility” Symposium of Deputies to the National People's Congress and CPPCC Members from Medicine Sector has been held successfully for eight consecutive years. The NPC deputies and CPPCC members took the initiative at all these symposiums, and these symposiums, in turn, provided a number of weighty proposals and suggestions for their discussion. This year, the 25 medicine associations jointly provided approximately 90 proposals and suggestions regarding the construction of legal systems and industry environment, medicine innovation, quality improvement and registration approval system reform, development and management of traditional Chinese medicine, health care, bidding and price, supporting and promoting the development of the medicine industry, the standardization and governance of medicine circulation industry.

Zhao Yixin, the deputy to the Twelfth NPC and the President of China Association for Medical Devices Industry, was invited again to attend the Symposium, and presented the Proposals on Establishing Reasonable Charge Standards, Reducing Enterprises' VAT Rate and Supporting the Development of In Vitro Diagnostics Industry, Proposals on Increasing the Sales of China-based High-end Medical Device Enterprises and Establishing the Platform for Intellectual Property Construction and Cooperation Organization Protection, and Proposals on Speeding up the Development of New Policies Concerning Introducing Innovative Medical Devices into Clinic Application, which addressed the hot topics in the industry. At the Symposium, Mr. Zhao also elaborated the challenges and issues encountered in the medicine industry in 2016, and called on the governments and relevant departments at various levels to make good policies and improve governance to guarantee medical devices are safe and efficient to use and suggested the research and innovation of medical devices be encouraged to promote the development of the medical device industry.