The development of medical devices in China has experienced a development process from scratch and from small to large. By the end of 2000, the output value of medical device industry in China has exceeded 50 billion yuan, and there are more than 5,700 medical device industrial enterprises, producing more than 5,000 varieties, and can produce some high-tech products such as CT, magnetic resonance imaging, color Doppler ultrasound and gamma knife. However, compared with developed countries, the technical content of medical devices in China is not high, and many core technologies are still monopolized by large companies in developed countries, accounting for less than 2% in the international market.
Due to the huge consumer groups and the active support of the government, the development space of the medical device market in China is extremely broad, mainly in the following aspects: ① The acceleration of economic development, the improvement of people's living standards, the gradual aging of the population and the upgrading of medical service demand have promoted the growth of medical consumption and medical device demand; ② Hospital informatization has triggered the growth of medical equipment demand. With the development of computer and network technology, the informationization and networking in the medical field have led to an increase in the demand for high-tech medical equipment such as imaging and digitization, which has brought huge market space to medical device manufacturers. (3) Changes in national policies promote the growth of medical device demand. The centralized drug bidding and purchasing system gradually reduces the hospital's dependence on drug income, and improving the income of medical services is an important way for hospitals to reduce their dependence on drug income, and the resulting demand for medium and high-grade medical equipment will constitute the continuous driving force for the development of medical device industry; (4) After China's entry into WTO, China's medical device exports have increased, and the space for joining the international market is broader; ⑤ The development of medical and health undertakings will promote the growth of medical device consumption. The total number of existing medical institutions in China is 6.5438+0.75 million, of which only 6.5438+0.3 million are hospitals above the county level. The level of medical devices is poor and needs to be improved urgently, which provides a broad development space for China's medical device industry.
Although the domestic medical device market continues to expand, the medical device manufacturers in China still retain the traditional production mode to a great extent, and their technical level is only in the middle and low level, and the phenomenon of low-level repeated production is serious and their competitiveness is poor. Among the top enterprises in China medical device industry 10, there are 7 foreign-funded and joint ventures; Among the top 50 enterprises, the total sales revenue and profits of joint ventures and foreign-funded enterprises are above 50%, and foreign-funded and joint ventures have become the main force in the domestic medical device market. Except for a few technologies such as ultrasonic focusing, which are at the international leading level, there is a big gap between China and foreign countries, and this situation is difficult to change in a short time.
2 Factors affecting the development of medical device industry in China
2. 1 economic factors
Economic factors restrict the development speed and direction of medical device industry. The total expenditure level of social medical and health care depends on the level of social and economic development, and is estimated according to the proportion of gross national product. At the end of the 20th century, China's social health expenditure accounted for about 5% of GNP, far lower than that of the United States (as early as 1993, the United States had reached 19%). At present, on the one hand, due to the limited consumption level of the people and the poor economic strength of hospitals, most middle and lower-level hospitals cannot afford or use expensive modern medical equipment; On the other hand, limited by the financial resources of the state and enterprises, the capital investment is relatively small and the research and development capacity of medical devices is insufficient, which restricts the development of the medical device industry to some extent.
2.2 Technical factors
Compared with developed countries, China's technical level is relatively low, which is another important factor affecting the development of medical device industry in China. The data shows that the overall level of medical device products in China is 15 years behind that of developed countries, and the main medical device products reach less than 5% of the advanced level in the contemporary world, with poor reliability, backward performance and weak market competitiveness. Even the middle and low-grade medical device products, we can't compare with developed countries. Take the ventilator as an example, the average time to failure of the product is only about 200 hours, while the average time to failure of foreign products is as high as 3000 hours ... In addition, the technical content of medical device products is getting higher and higher, the possibility of products being copied is greatly reduced, and the competitive barriers are greatly improved. In a word, the relatively low technical level weakens the competitiveness of China's medical device industry and greatly affects the development of China's medical device industry.
2.3 Social factors
Social factors cover many aspects and are very complicated. Such as: the transformation of enterprise ownership structure; Improve the market economic system; Establish a modern enterprise system; Reform of medical care system; The support of national policies and so on all affect the development of China's medical device industry. With the deepening of reform, various social factors that restrict the development of China's medical device industry will be gradually solved.
3 Countermeasures and suggestions to improve the competitiveness of China's medical device industry
3. 1 National Policy Support and Protection
The rapid development of industry depends on the role of industrial policy as a booster, but there are still restrictive factors in China's medical device industry policy, which needs further reform: ① The state formulates some preferential policies such as tax and credit. The medical device industry in Europe and Japan is supported as a welfare industry, which China can learn from. ② Give corresponding support to the government procurement policy. Priority should be given to purchasing domestic medical device products under the same conditions; ③ Establish and improve the medical device standard certification system, strengthen certification, and strive to be in line with international standards as soon as possible; (4) Strengthen macro-control, focus on the development of medical devices with a wide range and a large quantity, and encourage joint mergers and acquisitions of enterprises by adjusting the organizational structure of medical device industries, products and enterprises, so as to realize economies of scale and improve production concentration and market share; ⑤ The medical device industry is a multi-professional, knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive high-tech industry. At present, it is difficult for a single enterprise to complete large-scale R&D, and the government needs to tilt the research funding, both financially and technically.
3.2 the improvement of the competitiveness of enterprises themselves
Enterprises should make more efforts in enhancing R&D capability, improving marketing level, adjusting product structure, attaching importance to quality management, and strengthening exchanges and cooperation, so as to enhance their own strength. This is the key to improve the competitiveness of medical device industry in China.
(1) Strengthen research and development capabilities. Medical device industry is a multi-disciplinary, knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive high-tech industry, involving medicine, machinery, electronics, plastics and other industries, with relatively high technology content. At present, China's medical device manufacturers are large in number and small in scale, and seriously lack R&D and large-scale production strength. Therefore, strengthening R&D capability, speeding up product upgrading and improving the scientific and technological content of products are urgent tasks for medical device enterprises in China.
(2) Improve the marketing level. In the competition with international leading enterprises, localized direct selling will become the advantage of domestic enterprises, while the agency model with low integrity and fragile network is the weakness of imported product marketing. Therefore, giving full play to the advantages of direct selling, paying attention to the famous brand effect and improving the marketing level are powerful weapons for domestic enterprises to win competition.
(3) Adjust the product structure. Give priority to the development of economical, practical and high-quality middle and low-grade products, instead of unilaterally emphasizing high-quality and sophisticated products, we should comprehensively consider products with good curative effect, reliable quality and low cost. Market analysis and demand forecast must be carried out to produce marketable products, so as to achieve the greatest economic and social benefits.
(4) Pay attention to quality management. There is a big gap between China's medical equipment and foreign products in quality and after-sales service. Paying attention to product quality management and strengthening after-sales service is a long-term plan for China medical device enterprises to win market competition.
(5) Strengthen exchanges and cooperation. Domestic medical device manufacturers have strengthened exchanges and cooperation, improved the overall level of China's medical device industry, actively expanded foreign exchanges, and established stable cooperative relations with some important well-known enterprises in major economies (regions) in the world, so as to "learn from others and use them for our own use".
China's entry into WTO is both an opportunity and a challenge for medical device enterprises in China. It is conducive to expanding the opening of medical devices to the outside world, adjusting the domestic industrial structure and the import and export structure of medical devices, reducing the import cost of medical device raw materials and accessories, and improving the competitiveness and overall level of China's medical device industry; With China's entry into the WTO, the fierce competition is becoming more and more fierce. Multinational companies participate in the market competition of medical device enterprises in China, which brings challenges to the national medical device industry in China. Only by improving the competitiveness of medical equipment enterprises in China can China's medical equipment have its own market in the world.