Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 260 The Incurable Struggle for Power and Profit (Part 2)

In early April, the ice in the capital gradually thawed, and waterways gradually became unblocked.

This caused the people of the capital region to flock to the city.

Most of the pharmacies they visited were the newly opened Wanshou Pharmaceutical pharmacies in the inner city's west market.

This was because they had long heard that Wanshou Pharmaceutical offered free medical treatment and even delivered medicine to people. No matter what the illness, it didn't cost a penny. For common illnesses, they could just take some medicine home and be cured. For difficult and complicated diseases, there were imperial physicians who could prescribe medicine, and getting the medicine was free.

Where else can you find such a great opportunity? Anyone who is sick and doesn't go to see a doctor must be out of their mind.

The people of the capital region who were sick wanted to see the doctor as soon as they heard the news, but when the world was frozen, boats could not travel, and there was no rail transport connecting the capital region to the capital. They could not easily travel to the capital while they were sick.

Once the ice melted, boats became available, and people flocked to the capital. In fact, from Baoding Prefecture, Zhengding Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, and other places in Beizhili with waterways, sick civilians were all rushing to the capital.

The newly opened pharmacy of Wanshou Pharmaceutical is always packed with people, with countless long queues forming outside.

This really gave Zhou Jian and Zhou Xuan a huge headache, because they didn't have that many ready-made medicines.

They had no choice but to quickly seek help from the current emperor.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Zhu Jue had just arrived at the main hall of Yu Xi Palace when Zhou Jian followed closely behind, quickly entering and bowing, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

What's that expression on your face?
Could there be a problem with the finished drug?
Upon seeing this, Zhu Jue asked in surprise, "What's wrong, Xiao Jian? What happened?"

How do you say this?

Zhou Jian thought for a moment, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, nothing serious has happened. The problem is that after the snow melted, it seems that ordinary people from the capital region have flocked here, and even ordinary people from Baoding Prefecture, Zhengding Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture and other places have flocked here."

There are so many ordinary people flocking to see the doctor that we can't possibly see them all, and our supply of over-the-counter medicines is far from sufficient.

We use up all the finished medicines we produce every day before late afternoon. After that, we can only prescribe medicines and get herbs for people. If this continues, we're afraid we'll run out of herbs soon.

The key is that we also need herbs to make medicine. If we run out of herbs, we can't make the medicine, and we won't be able to test its effects.

Your Majesty, do you think we should charge a little money? Nowadays, we spend thousands of taels of silver on medicine every day, not even counting the wages for hiring people, the cost of building the pharmaceutical factory, and the cost of developing the medicine.

At this rate, even a million taels wouldn't last two months, and we don't know how much more money we'll have to invest.

Free medical treatment is incredibly tempting; any ordinary person who can afford it will definitely rush over to see a doctor.

They were initially worried that there wouldn't be enough patients to participate in the drug trials, but now the pharmacies are packed with patients.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue thought about it carefully before solemnly saying, "Spending a few thousand taels a day is nothing, spending a few million taels is also nothing. The key is to test the efficacy of the medicine. How have you been testing it these past few days? Have you found that the tablets and powders are completely problem-free?"

By trying this, you can naturally discover quite a few things.

Zhou Jian nodded repeatedly and said, "We've tested quite a few. We've tested about ten kinds of tablets and powders and found that they're effective. Basically, as long as you take them back and take them for a few days in a row, the illness will be cured."

Well, it's good that it works.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then decisively said, "If we don't have enough herbs, we'll send a fast ship to Southern Zhili to purchase them. We can forget about the fee; it's better not to charge us until we've tested the efficacy of all the prepared medicines."

However, we could appropriately limit the number of patients seen each day. How many patients does a pharmacy typically see in a day these days?

How do you say this?

Zhou Jian thought about it carefully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, it depends on the patient's symptoms. If it's a common cold, flu, fever, inflammation, or other symptoms that are easy to identify at a glance, then one counter can see at least ten patients in a quarter of an hour."

Prescribing medicine for this kind of ailment is simple. They just hand the patient a bottle of pre-prepared medicine and an instruction sheet, then tell them how many times a day to take it, how many pills to take each time, and what foods to avoid. However, for more complex symptoms, it's a different story. Some symptoms might take more than fifteen minutes to diagnose, and sometimes even experienced doctors have to refer patients to the imperial physician if they can't make a diagnosis.

However, most of the patients coming in have common ailments. We currently have twenty counters, with forty experienced doctors taking turns seeing patients. If we count ten patients every fifteen minutes, that's eighty patients per hour. From opening at Chen Shi (7-9 AM) to closing at You Shi (5-7 PM), that's five hours. With twenty counters, seeing seven or eight thousand patients a day shouldn't be a problem.

so much!
Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then asked, "Approximately how many tablets and powders can the pharmaceutical factory produce each day?"

This number is not easy to calculate.

Zhou Jian said cautiously, "We don't look at the number of tablets or powders. We make both tablets and powders into individual doses, one dose is one bottle. If you still can't cure the illness after finishing one dose, then it proves that there is a problem with the efficacy of the medicine."

If we're talking about individual doses, the current production capacity of tablets and powders at pharmaceutical factories is about the same, around three thousand doses per day.

Oh, the pharmaceutical factory produces about six thousand doses of tablets and powders every day, right?
Zhu Jue pondered, "Does this mean that if we just add the decoction, producing nine thousand doses of medicine a day won't be a problem? And if we add the pills, producing twelve thousand doses of medicine a day won't be a problem either?"

Well, you could say that. The prescriptions are all ready-made, the types of medicine have been decided long ago, and the herbs are prepared according to the prescriptions. We are just testing the efficacy of the tablets, granules, decoctions, and pills.

The problem is, the pharmaceutical factories can't produce decoctions and pills right now.

Zhou Jian explained in detail: "Your Majesty, we can't produce decoctions or pills right now. The equipment for producing decoctions is simple, and the pharmaceutical factory has been set up for a long time. The key is that the preservatives you mentioned haven't arrived yet."

As for the pills, there's a lack of equipment. Lord Song said, "These pills are difficult to roll. Rolling them by machine seems very difficult, and rolling them by hand is too inefficient."

This preservative requires purified saltpeter, and the dosage needs to be tested. It's unlikely that it can be produced in a short time.

As for making meatballs by machine, it can definitely do that, it's just that Song Yingxing didn't ask him about it.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "You can have someone produce the decoction first. Anyway, the weather isn't hot yet, and the patient will finish it in a few days, so it shouldn't spoil."

As for the equipment for making pills, I will discuss it with Chang Geng after I finish reviewing the memorials. It is not difficult to make, and it should not take too long.

The pharmacy shouldn't charge you anymore. However, you need to have someone make a batch of number plates and distribute them to ordinary people who come to see the doctor first thing every morning, on a first-come, first-served basis.

You also have to post a notice that only those who have a number will be seen, and the number must be taken back when the patient is seen. Once all the number of numbers issued each day have been taken back, then no more patients will be seen.

This way you can control the number of patients you see each day, and those who haven't gotten a number don't have to stand in line outside.

"You'll issue 6,000 license plates per day initially. Once the decoction is produced, you'll issue 7,000 license plates per day. Once the pills are produced, you'll issue 8,000 license plates per day."

Oh, they can also issue number plates.

Zhou Jian nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, hurry up and order people to produce the decoction and make the nameplates."

Zhou Jian quickly cupped his hands, bowed, and took his leave.

Zhu Jue then opened the memorials and began to review them.

As a result, he frowned again before he had even reviewed a few memorials.

This is never going to end.

Even if ordinary people get sick, it's probably not because they're mentally ill.

The Fushe Society, these clowns, acted like they were mentally ill, constantly submitting memorials and babbling on and on, neglecting their duties and only thinking about vying for power and profit.

(End of this chapter)