Lawmaker proposes improved drug labelling for the blind

Xinhua Updated: 2014-03-10

BEIJING -- A lawmaker on Sunday called for an amendment to the Drug Administration Law to make it more friendly to the visually impaired.

China should add a clause in the law that requires using braille or electronic recognition system in drug labelling to help the blind and the visually impaired to properly take medication, proposed Chen Haixiao, director of Taizhou Enze Medical Center in east China's Zhejiang province.

"The blind people had very limited access to information, which made them vulnerable if no one is around for help," Chen noted, citing official statistics that put the country's visually disabled at 12.63 million by the end of 2010.

Chen is in Beijing for the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislature.

He suggested that China make it legally bound to put on either braille labels or "voice tags" on the drug package.

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