China: devices sector eases restrictions to lure foreign firms
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A major attraction for medical device manufacturers targeting the Chinese market is that 15% of the medical equipment in 175,000 domestic hospitals and clinics were made some 30 years ago and are in serious need of updating. This was the view of Mr Pan Yu Cheng, chief editor of China Medical Equipment Information, revealed at Medica, the world's largest medical device trade fair, in Dusseldorf, Germany, last year. In order to upgrade some 13,000 hospitals above county level to the standard that Japanese hospitals achieved in 1980 - a cost of $96,000 per 100 beds - would cost some $144-180m. It is also a priority for China to see that its less developed, rural areas are properly equipped.