Shenzhen residents will find it much easier to compare hospital charges as the city has implemented a regulation requiring hospitals to disclose the prices of medicines and treatments, reports Shenzhen Commercial Daily.

According to the Medical Institution Price Disclosure Regulations effective from this month, hospitals must clarify the "common" names of the medicines they give out, as well as the prices, ingredients and manufacturers and whether the medicines are covered by Medicare.

All public hospitals and those private hospitals with more than 100 beds to a ward are required to set up touch-screen terminals, where patients can check treatment charges.

In a related report by Guangzhou Daily, medical expenses incurred by Shenzhen residents rose slightly in the first half of the year.

The sanitation department found that individuals spent an average of 118.6 yuan (US$14.20) per hospital visit, 1.4 per cent more than last year.

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