Pharmacies share data on fever-related drug purchases
An official with the Nanjing Rd W. Market Regulation Station checks the report system at a Guoda Pharmacy outlet on Nanjing Road W. in Jing'an District.
About 4,000 retail pharmacies across Shanghai have registered about 20,000 items of information from fevered customers who've bought medicines since January 23 and this information has been submitted to the city's drug authorities, the Shanghai Drug Administration said on Monday.
"If customers with fever, cough or cold symptoms visit a drugstore and purchase related medicines, we will ask them for information such as their name, age, ID card number and cell phone number," said pharmacist Liu Jiamei who works at a Guoda Pharmacy outlet on Nanjing Road W. in Jing'an District.
"The information will be reported via a registration and report system to the administration, and we will suggest that customers visit nearby Changzheng Hospital based on their symptoms," said Liu.
The collected information will be checked by the Shanghai Drug Administration and shared with health authorities and police, and some suspected cases have been quickly put into quarantine for medical observation via the mechanism, according to Wu Lingyun, Party secretary of the Nanjing Rd W. Market Regulation Station.
Visitors to drugstores in the city are required to have their temperatures measured before they are allowed inside.
Guoda Pharmacy said its 700-plus outlets in Shanghai have halted online purchases of fever-related medicines, and patients can only purchase them offline.
A visitor to an outlet of Guoda Pharmacy on Nanjing Rd W. in Jing'an District has his temperature measured.
