The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

Is Jiangcheng City vigorously promoting medical system reform?

Li Yonghu keenly sensed the enormous opportunity hidden behind this information. A meaningful smile appeared on his lips as he tentatively asked, "This important initiative must have been spearheaded and promoted by Jiang Yiming, right?"

"Yes, from the initial design to the implementation, Mayor Jiang Yiming actively led and promoted the entire process."

An official familiar with the situation quickly responded: "Before this, although Secretary Lei had expressed his agreement, his attitude was never enthusiastic enough and his support was limited. However, since Secretary Xiao Shumin took office, the situation has changed significantly. He attaches great importance to and fully supports Jiang Yiming's efforts to promote medical reform. He not only took the initiative to invite Governor Zhao, who is in charge of health, to come for a discussion and guidance, but also personally deployed and required all counties and districts to strictly implement the reforms to ensure that the work is carried out efficiently."

"Very good. Send me all the relevant materials and detailed plans immediately, and I will study them carefully."

Li Yonghu hung up the phone after he finished speaking.

Not long after, he received the complete set of documents from the other party.

After carefully reviewing the documents, Li Yonghu discovered that the scale of this reform in Jiangcheng City was unprecedented.

They coordinated and integrated all public hospitals and most private hospitals in the city to jointly carry out centralized volume-based procurement of medicines and medical consumables.

The procurement scope covered twelve major categories of high-value medical consumables, including cardiac stents, orthopedic joints, and ophthalmic intraocular lenses, as well as more than fifty commonly used clinical drugs. Faced with such a large-scale reform, Li Yonghu pondered for a moment, then called the head of a pharmaceutical company with which he had a long-term partnership.

"President Wei, you must have heard about Jiangcheng City's initiative to promote centralized volume-based procurement of medicines and medical consumables, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Li, we have noticed this development, but we are still observing and hesitating, considering whether to participate in the bidding."

Mr. Wei seemed somewhat hesitant, and continued, "According to our preliminary assessment, the final winning bid prices for the more than fifty kinds of drugs involved in this centralized procurement are probably not very high, and the profit margin will be greatly compressed. I am very worried that after participating, it will ultimately become a business that looks good on the surface but actually loses money."

Li Yonghu chuckled, his tone laced with disdain and calculation: "What's so difficult about that? You can either suddenly stop supplying after winning the bid, or you can cut corners on product quality and provide substandard or inferior products. You can't just knowingly continue doing it at a loss, can you?"

Mr. Wei paused for a moment, a look of confusion and difficulty on his face: "Mr. Li, isn't this too risky? If something goes wrong, our company's reputation and brand will be completely ruined. I don't think it's necessary to take such extreme measures."

"Why is it unnecessary?"

Li Yonghu's voice suddenly turned cold, carrying an undeniable force: "Only by doing this can you completely disrupt Jiang Yiming's reform plans. Once the public can't buy medicine and hospitals can't perform surgeries normally, public opinion will explode immediately. At that time, his so-called 'pioneer of medical reform' will instantly become a 'criminal against the people's livelihood.' The province will definitely investigate the matter, the municipal party committee must give an explanation, and even Xiao Shumin will have to carefully weigh the options. How can a reform pilot that can't even guarantee the supply of basic medicines become a national benchmark?"

"This……"

Mr. Wei was still somewhat hesitant.

"Okay, stop with the 'this' and 'that'."

Li Yonghu interrupted him directly, his tone clearly pressured: "Over the years, you and your company have relied on the Li family's network of connections to obtain policy benefits and make a fortune. Now, it's time for you to do something practical for the Li family."

He paused, then continued issuing instructions, his tone brooking no argument: "Find three companies as soon as possible and have them participate in the bidding in their names. Make sure you win the bids for at least three core drugs. The bids must be 10% lower than the cost price. Secure the bids first. After that, use methods such as 'fine-tuning technical parameters' and 'flexible delivery cycles' to artificially create supply obstacles and paralyze the actual supply."

Mr. Wei's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. After struggling internally for a long time, he finally forced himself to agree, "Okay, Mr. Li, I will strictly follow your instructions."

Although he was extremely unwilling, he knew very well that his current status and wealth were entirely due to his dependence on the Li family.

Without Li Yonghu's tacit approval and support, he wouldn't even have been able to obtain a registration certificate from the drug administration. Now, with Li Yonghu's order, it's like a knife hanging over his head; he has no room to refuse.

Unless, of course, he really doesn't want to continue working in this industry.

After careful consideration, President Wei decided to cling tightly to the Li family.

After all, only by continuing to follow the Li family could he continue to enjoy various resources and benefits, living a life of luxury.

Regarding the potential risks of this operation, while they certainly exist, he believes they are not entirely uncontrollable. Even if it is subsequently exposed by the media, he can defend himself by claiming it was due to "winning the bid at low cost, responding to policy calls, and benefiting the people," while exaggerating the company's current financial difficulties. In that case, who could truly target him?

After the two agreed on the specific details, President Wei immediately got up to take his leave and began preparations according to Li Yonghu's requirements.

After President Wei left the office, Li Yonghu picked up his phone again and skillfully dialed another number.

"Hey Comrade Zhang, has CCTV's news sensitivity declined a bit? Such a big event as the medical reform in Jiangcheng, and you didn't even do in-depth follow-up reporting? Have you become out of touch with the actual work at the grassroots level?"

"Young Master Li, please don't joke with me. I'm so busy every day that I'm practically splitting myself into two. How can I possibly oversee everything?"

"Alright, since you're so busy, let me give you a heads-up. This medical reform in Jiangcheng is the first of its kind in the country. It's not just a major event for the healthcare system, but also a profound transformation in people's lives. If the reform succeeds, it will greatly enhance the public's sense of gain and trust. Doesn't this kind of news with such a significant demonstrative effect deserve your front-page headlines and extensive coverage?"

"Of course it's worth it! But what if... what if the reforms go wrong? Wouldn't we be caught in the crossfire too?"

"What does it have to do with you media if things go wrong? We won't hold you responsible. You just need to do your best to promote and report on the reforms, highlighting the 'highlights' of the reforms, downplaying the 'difficulties' in implementation, and cleverly transforming the public's 'doubts' into 'expectations' for the policies."

Li Yonghu chuckled, his tone clearly guiding: "In short, through your reports, we must do our utmost to establish a role model for cadres who dare to take responsibility and do practical things for the people."

"Alright, since Young Master Li has said so, I will do my best to push forward according to your requirements. However, if the other party is indeed promoted because of this, you must help me introduce him. Don't forget my contribution."

The other party thought that Li Yonghu was creating momentum for some cadre.

"Don't worry, how could we forget such a great contributor like you?"

Li Yonghu readily agreed and then hung up the phone.

He put down his phone and sat alone in his office, a cold smile on his face. He muttered to himself, "Jiang Yiming, if you had just behaved yourself and kept quiet, with Vice President Chen's protection, the Li family wouldn't have been able to openly touch you. But instead, you not only didn't know how to restrain yourself, but you became even more outrageous, jumping around and causing trouble. Aren't you just making yourself a sitting duck, easy prey? You're really courting death!"

With the deepening of centralized procurement of medicines and medical devices, Jiangcheng City, as a pilot area for national medical reform, has seen its medical system reform process continue to attract high attention from all sectors of society.

Not only have local media outlets continued to follow up and report on the project, but even central-level media outlets have devoted significant space and prime time to focusing on the groundbreaking move of Wuhan's medical reform, praising its spirit of exploration and innovation.

Many authoritative media outlets have been lavish in their praise, directly calling Jiang Yiming a "national pioneer of medical reform," a "pioneer of reform in the new era," and a "pragmatist among the people," fully affirming his efforts and contributions in promoting medical reform and benefiting people's livelihoods.

At a recent special meeting to coordinate the centralized procurement of medicines and medical devices, Jiang Yiming personally listened to reports on the progress of various tasks.

Officials from the Municipal Health Bureau and the Medical Insurance Bureau gave detailed reports on the current progress of centralized procurement, existing problems, and next steps.

After carefully listening to the report, Jiang Yiming said, "The pilot program for centralized procurement of medicines and medical devices is only the first step in our reform. Once this work is completed, we will continue to promote a series of measures such as medical price adjustments and the separation of drug sales from medical services, so that the people can truly enjoy the benefits brought by medical reform."

He affirmed the achievements of various departments at this stage.

Health Bureau Director Shao Yongyong replied with a smile: "The mayor always puts the interests of the people first, no wonder the media have hailed you as a 'national medical reform pioneer' and a 'new era reform pioneer'."

Jiang Yiming asked, slightly surprised, "Where did you see these reports?"

Due to his busy daily work schedule, he rarely pays attention to media reports.

Shao Yongyong replied, "Many mainstream media outlets have done special reports on it, and even CCTV News used its front page to focus on our medical reform practices in Wuhan. It can be said that our reforms have attracted widespread attention across the country."

Jiang Yiming nodded slightly after hearing this and instructed, "Okay, I understand. Today's meeting is over for now. Please go back and work hard to implement the plan, and ensure that key steps such as bidding are completed on time so that the medicine can be delivered as soon as possible and patients can benefit from it sooner."

"Understood, Mayor. We will organize and implement it immediately!"

The attendees expressed their opinions.

After the meeting, Jiang Yiming specifically instructed his secretary, Wu Xianjun, "Compile a list of recent media reports about me and send it to me for review."

"Yes, Mayor, I'll take care of it right away."

Wu Xianjun responded immediately.

About an hour later, Wu Xianjun walked into the mayor's office carrying a thick stack of newspaper clippings and printed materials, and said, "These are all the relevant reports that we have been able to collect so far. There are paper clippings and printed versions of online news. Each one is marked with the source link and the publication time. Please take a look."

Jiang Yiming took the materials and found that there were more than thirty reports. He frowned slightly and said, "Many more important tasks have not been given this much publicity. This is a bit unusual. As the saying goes, the higher the media praises you, the harder you may fall. There is probably more to this than meets the eye."

"Should I investigate this?"

Wu Xianjun asked for instructions.

Jiang Yiming waved his hand and said, "An investigation might not uncover anything. Even if someone is pushing for it, there are only a few more reports so far. The other party is probably trying to find a breakthrough through medical reform. Our most important task right now is to closely monitor every aspect of the centralized procurement process, prepare risk contingency plans in advance, and prevent problems before they arise."

He originally planned to delegate the specific implementation of the centralized procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical devices to Shao Yongyong and others, while he would only oversee the overall direction. However, the sudden media attention made him feel uneasy. He decided to personally follow up on this work to ensure the smooth implementation of the reform.

With the bidding process now complete, Shao Yongyong and the director of the Medical Insurance Bureau came together to report on the winning bids.

"Mayor, this centralized procurement has been a complete success. More than fifty kinds of medicines involved have seen an average price reduction of over 60%, while consumables and medical devices have seen an average price reduction of over 70%. Furthermore, the winning bids for five kinds of medicines are only 7% of their original prices, and may even be lower than the companies' costs."

With a broad smile, Shao Yongyong reported, "Under your strong leadership, we have truly secured tangible benefits for the people. After the relevant news is released, I believe the public will praise the work of our municipal government."

"Below cost price?"

Jiang Yiming frowned: "Was the bidding very competitive this time? Why did some companies win the bid at a price below cost?"

"The overall level of competition is not too bad; it's not particularly fierce."

Shao Yongyong explained, "It is estimated that some companies are considering seizing the market and expanding their share, since there will be opportunities for contract renewal and expansion in the future."

"Pricing below cost is not innovation, it's a hidden danger."

Jiang Yiming said solemnly, “The end of the bidding process doesn’t mean everything is settled. You must immediately organize a team to conduct a comprehensive verification of the performance capabilities of all winning bidders. Focus on three key areas: first, whether the minor adjustments to technical parameters exceed reasonable limits; second, the actual implementation bottom line of the flexible supply cycle clauses; and third, whether the raw material purchase invoices correspond to the actual production capacity. In particular, thoroughly investigate the five companies with abnormally low bid prices, and retrieve and verify all their GMP certification records, recent water and electricity usage data, and logistics vouchers.”

"Mayor, do you mean... these companies may not have intended to supply goods normally at all?"

Shao Yongyong asked, somewhat puzzled, "What are they trying to achieve by doing this?"

"This is just a risk assessment, but we must investigate and resolve potential risks in advance."

Jiang Yiming stated firmly, "If the winning bidders cannot guarantee timely supply, how will patients' medication needs be met? Where will the credibility of the policy be?"

"Understood, Mayor. I will arrange for personnel to conduct an investigation immediately."

Shao Yongyong responded solemnly.