Annual demand for 2 billion visits! The state issued a letter, this medical device to be on fire
Recently (June 3), the National Health Commission issued a Notice on Further Improving Mechanisms and Promoting the Transfer of Urban Medical Resources to County-level Hospitals and Urban-rural Grassroots (hereinafter referred to as the Notice).
The Notice clearly requires all regions to establish remote medical service networks covering provinces, cities, counties, townships, and villages, and actively promote the remote medical service model of “grassroots inspection and higher-level diagnosis”.
The continuous deepening of medical reform is accelerating the tilt of urban medical resources towards the grassroots level. In this process, it is particularly important to strengthen the diagnostic services of primary healthcare, especially to enhance the examination capabilities of primary healthcare. This not only lays a solid foundation for accurate diagnosis, but also a key prerequisite for achieving mutual recognition of examination results between superiors and primary healthcare institutions.
As one of the preferred examinations for many clinical diseases, ultrasound examination has reached an astonishing 2 billion people annually, 10 times more than CT examination, and is a crucial item in primary medical examination in China.
However, according to data from Soundwise Technology, there are only over 40000 low-end B-ultrasound units at the grassroots service stations of China’s family planning system, making it difficult to meet the current clinical examination needs.
Therefore, with the release of this round of notice, in order to provide higher level medical services, the ultrasound examination capabilities of 978000 grassroots medical institutions in China will undoubtedly undergo a comprehensive improvement. At the same time, the matching ultrasound equipment configuration requirements will continue to be released.
150000 clinical doctors shortage
978000 grassroots hospitals urgently need to upgrade their equipment!
However, there are still many pain points in the development of China’s grassroots ultrasound market at present.
01 Low inspection efficiency and slow speed
Unlike imaging examinations such as magnetic resonance imaging and CT, the image acquisition and review of ultrasound examinations need to be completed simultaneously. When operating an ultrasound probe, doctors need to observe dynamic scanning images and establish three-dimensional images in their minds based on different static sections. This process requires close coordination between the doctor’s hands, eyes, and brain, which not only requires a high level of technical proficiency from the doctor, but also makes the examination time for patients relatively long.
02 Large talent gap and slow cultivation
According to data surveys, there is currently a shortage of at least 150000 ultrasound doctors in China, and it often takes 3 to 5 years to cultivate a qualified ultrasound doctor. In the field of prenatal fetal screening, it may even take 5 to 8 years. The huge talent gap and slow talent cultivation speed clearly make it difficult to keep up with the rapid growth of examination demand.
It can be seen that in the process of promoting the implementation of the “grassroots inspection, superior diagnosis” model, providing a clear imaging, easy operation, wide application range, and intelligent function of ultrasound equipment for the grassroots medical market is the key for dealers to break through in the field of grassroots ultrasound!
China is encouraging China end uses for more domestic products in latest years. Thus, more and more overseas manufacturers are planning localization in China. BradyKnows localization team has extensive experiences in facility establishment, audit, supplier evaluation, manufacturing, registration, and marketing in China. Pls feel free to let us know any questions on China entry via info@bradyknowsmedical.com
Source：Medical Device Dealers Alliance
Translated & edited： Bradyknow
