OBJECTIVE： To provide reference for promoting the further implementation of national essential medicine system and related policies. METHODS： Hospital information system （HIS）， Excel 2007 and SPSS 13.0 software were adopted to statistically compare the changes in equipping the specific varieties of national essential medicines and the differences in the overall use of national essential medicines before and after implementing the National Essential Medicine System （2012 edition） （referred to NEMS， 2012 edition） and cancelling drug addition policy in a public hospital in Chengdu. RESULTS： After implementing the NEMS （2012 edition）， 60 kinds of equipping national essential medicines increased in the hospital， including 38 kinds of chemical medicines and biological products， 22 kinds of Chinese patent medicines； compared with before， the percentage of essential medicines to prescription drugs， prescription rate of essential medicines， average essential medicine in a single prescription and prescription rate of all essential medicines were significantly improved （P＜0.05）. After cancelling drug addition policy， 5 kinds of equipping national essential medicines increased in the hospital， including 3 kinds of chemical medicines and biological products， 2 kinds of Chinese patent medicines； the above-mentioned 4 indexes showed no obvious changes， with no statistical significances （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS： After implementing the NEMS （2012 edition） and cancelling drug addition policy， the equipping national essential medicines are still insufficient， some indexes do not meet the requirements of Sichuan Province. It is suggested that the public medical and health institution at county-level should to choose suitable national essential medicines based on its specific situation； strengthen publicity and education， improve the popularity of physicians to national essential medicine system； strengthen the assessment and management of the use of essential medicines for physicians. Meanwhile， the government and the relevant departments are suggested to explore more effective and reasonable compensation mechanism to improve the enthusiasm of physicians to use the national essential medicines.