Weird. On the subject of antibiotics, here in China it used to be that you could buy anything. I've even seen military-grade mass produced physical rolls of jungle antibiotics on sale near the Burmese border. Things are a lot more controlled these days. It used to be that you could buy anything over the counter, now in most places you need a prescription. Prices are dirt cheap, though. It's rare to find a course of antibiotics for more than USD$3-4. Also, China seems progressive on new types of antibiotics, whereas the US FDA drags its feet approving things (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxithromycin for example).