Official Notice/Investigation of All Imported Medical Device Purchases

Ministry of Finance: When purchasing imported products, a demand survey must be carried out.

Recently, the Hubei Provincial Department of Finance issued the Working Procedures for Provincial Government Procurement in Hubei Province (hereinafter referred to as the procedures) to further regulate government procurement.

Ministry of Finance: When purchasing imported products, a demand survey must be carried out

Recently, the Hubei Provincial Department of Finance issued the Working Procedures for Provincial Government Procurement in Hubei Province (hereinafter referred to as the procedures) to further regulate government procurement.
According to the regulations, each department and unit shall prepare the procurement demand, carry out the demand survey and feasibility analysis by means of questionnaire and online query, and invite relevant professionals or third-party institutions to participate in the consultation and demonstration when necessary.

For the following procurement items, a demand survey must be carried out:
Goods and service procurement projects of more than 10 million yuan, and engineering procurement projects of more than 30 million yuan;

Procurement projects involving public interests and high social concern, including public service projects provided by the government to the public, such as public facility management services, environmental services, professional and technical services, and education, health care and social services;

Projects with complex technology and strong professionalism, including information construction projects that need to be customized and developed, projects for purchasing imported products, etc.;

Other procurement items that the competent budget unit or the purchaser deems necessary to carry out demand investigation.
In addition, the organizational form and procurement method of government procurement shall be determined according to the demand characteristics, performance objectives, market supply and demand of government procurement projects and the applicable circumstances stipulated in the government procurement law. If it is necessary to purchase imported products due to special circumstances, it shall be implemented in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Government Procurement of Imported Products and other relevant provisions of the Ministry of finance. The imported instruments and equipment purchased by provincial universities and provincial scientific research institutes shall be subject to the network filing system.
The regulations specify that for projects that can purchase imported products after the review of the Provincial Department of finance, it shall clearly stipulate in the procurement documents that imported products can be purchased, but shall not restrict domestic products that meet the demand from participating in the competition.

For import enterprises, the document specially emphasizes “no differential treatment”.
Except for procurement projects involving state security and state secrets, products produced in China by domestic and foreign-funded enterprises shall not be treated differently. For products produced in China, whether their suppliers are domestic or foreign-funded enterprises, their equal rights to participate in government procurement activities shall be guaranteed according to law.

The threshold is upgraded. Is it difficult to enter the hospital?

From expert argumentation to approval procedures to demand surveys, one more admission ticket is required for imported devices to enter the hospital.
The gate of policies for purchasing imported medical devices is being tightened.

In the unified demonstration list of government purchased imported products (medical equipment) of Zhejiang Province from 2021 to 2022, the number of imported medical equipment that can be purchased is reduced from 232 to 195;

Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of finance has clearly put forward the target of decreasing the total amount of imported products. In addition to meeting special needs, the total amount of imported products purchased by the government will decrease by more than 10% annually in three years from 2021;

In the list of imported products of provincial health institutions in Guangdong Province in 2021, the number of medical equipment that can be purchased and imported has been reduced from 132 to 46, and more than two-thirds of the medical equipment has been removed from the list;

Public medical institutions in Anhui Province shall purchase imported products with budget funds and their own funds only after the approval of the competent budget unit and the financial department at or above the municipal level divided into districts. Those without approval shall not purchase imported products;

Only 59 kinds of medical equipment in Sichuan Province can be imported.

The living space reserved by the policy for domestic medical devices is gradually expanding.

How far will the market shift from overt to covert strife?

Any subtle change in policy orientation can trigger a sudden change in the market, and hospital procurement is no exception.

All localities should support domestic enterprises, but they still need to attract import investment. Under the adjustment of the policy environment, the ways of overt and covert fighting are constantly changing.
“Before the government restricted imports, in fact, many price wars had pushed the imported machinery enterprises into a corner. Their response was very simple, that is, to build factories in China and obtain the registration certificate with the prefix of” Guo “. In addition, some import enterprises would cooperate directly with many domestic companies, such as directly merging some new domestic production lines or buying a subsidiary. Local governments also have their own practical considerations when implementing policies, and the local government also supports import enterprises to invest and build factories.

On October 25 last year, the Ministry of Finance issued the notice on implementing policies on equal treatment of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises in government procurement activities on its official website, requiring equal treatment of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises in government procurement activities.

The products produced by foreign-funded enterprises in China also have the status of “domestic” to a certain extent after obtaining the country prefix registration certificate.

Edited & Translated  by Bradyknow

Source: Saibolan Device