By Wu Siya

 

BEIJING, Aug. 12 (China Economic Net) – "The Middle East has become an important overseas market for Chinese medical device companies, especially in the fields of medical imaging and gene sequencing. At present, our products have successfully entered many top hospitals in the Middle East and covered many countries such as Algeria and Egypt," a Neusoft Medical staff told China Economic Net reporter at 2024 Beijing Forum for Global Health (China-Hospeq 2024), which was held in Beijing from August 9 to 11.

 

 

The statistic from Chinese customs showed that in the first quarter of 2024, China’s exports of medical devices to the Middle East increased significantly, among which exports to the UAE increased by 23.41% year-on-year, exports to Turkey increased by 9.68%, and exports to Saudi Arabia increased by 8.34%.

 

Speaking of the international competitiveness of domestic medical devices, Wu Shaojie, CEO of Neusoft Medical, pointed out that the share of domestic medical equipment in the international market is gradually increasing. “Domestic medical products and solutions have provided services to more than 110 countries and regions, but obviously we need to make much more efforts than that.”

 

Mozambique, located in the southeast corner of Africa, is one of the least developed countries in the world as announced by the United Nations. The country has a population of 30 million but only has one MRI machine in the capital hospital for a long time. As the capital Maputo is almost at the southernmost tip of the country, people in the northern provinces have to cross almost the entire country to receive medical imaging examinations. 

 

“In 2022, our digital MRI device has entered northern Mozambique. With the help of it, medical staff could clearly capture the continuous dynamic changes of tissue signals and lock the lesions in real time,” introduced a staff member of United Imaging Healthcare.

 

 

According to Nature, China’s medical device market revenue has doubled since 2015, with an average annual growth rate of about 20%. This growth rate is significantly higher than the expansion rate of GDP, showing the strong development momentum of the medical device industry. Although the U.S. and European multinational magnates such as Siemens, GE Healthcare and Medtronic continue to dominate global market, the market share of Chinese local brands in the high-end equipment field has risen from 20% 10 years ago to 30%.

 

More than that, many international companies have further expanded their markets through localized cooperation by establishing manufacturing plants in China or building joint ventures with Chinese companies. The reporter learned at the China-Hospeq 2024 site that the ultra-high-end Revolution CT scanner manufactured by GE Healthcare’s factory in Beijing is highly favored in the global market for its high-efficiency performance and advanced technology. By now, 70% of the CT equipment sold worldwide comes from GE’s factory in Beijing.

 

Al- Haefeli, a senior expert in medical product certification at the UAE Ministry of Health, noted: “We learned that China’s domestically produced high-end medical equipment is not only technologically advanced, but also highly economical and accessible. We hope to introduce these advanced equipment and technologies through collaboration to provide better medical services for patients.”