The Development Plan for the Medical Equipment Sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) has recently been issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Healthcare Security Administration, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Medical Products Administration. To facilitate understanding the content and doing a good job in the implementation, the related content of the Plan is hereby interpreted as follows:
I. Background of the Plan
As an important material basis for the medical and health care cause, medical equipment directly relates to people’s lives and health. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of the medical equipment sector and General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that we should “accelerate fixing the country’s ‘weak link’ in the high-end medical equipment sector.” During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, related authorities including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission focused on improving the policy system, increasing support, and giving full play to the initiative of research institutions, medical equipment sector, medical system, etc., and promoted China’s medical equipment sector to achieve fast development, with the market size growing from RMB 480 billion in 2015 to RMB 840 billion in 2020, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 11.8%. The medical equipment manufacturing system has become sound in China, and a medical equipment product system with more than 1,100 varieties in 22 categories has been formed, to cover all health links and basically meet the diagnosis & treatment, elderly care, chronic disease prevention and treatment and emergency rescue needs of medical institutions in China. Medical equipment enterprises have developed and grown, with more than 2,300 enterprises above designated size achieving main business income of more than RMB 410 billion in 2020, a group of highly competitive leading enterprises and distinctive industrial clusters have emerged in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Rim, and China has become an important medical equipment production and manufacturing base in the world. Medical equipment enterprises actively organized production and ensured supply especially during the early days of fighting COVID-19, which effectively supported COVID-19 prevention and control in China and cooperation against COVID-19 in the world.
II. Preparation process of the Plan
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission organized industry experts to launch the research project of the Development Plan for the Medical Equipment Sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period in July 2019. A total of 10 authorities including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Healthcare Security Administration, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Medical Products Administration set up a preparation group to officially launch the study and drafting of the Plan in May 2020. In the preparation process of the Plan, the preparation group went down to communities with industry experts and held symposiums in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to listen to opinions and suggestions from local government departments, industry organizations, medical institutions, research institutes, colleges and universities, key enterprises (including foreign-funded enterprises), etc. Opinions from society were also solicited via the portal website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and expert groups were organized many times to study, demonstrate, modify and improve the Plan.
The preparation of the Plan thoroughly implemented the spirit of the important instruction of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council that the preparation of plans for the 14th Five-year Plan period should “extensively pool wisdom to study new circumstances and make new plans.”
III. Overall consideration of the Plan
The overall idea of the Plan is to follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the guiding principles from the 19th CPC National Congress and the second through sixth plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, ground the work in the new stage of development, fully and faithfully implement the new development philosophy, foster a new development pattern, remain committed to the people-centered development thinking, coordinate development and security, implement Healthy China and manufacturing power strategic arrangements, focus on clinical needs and health security, strengthen medical-industrial collaboration, advance technological innovation, product innovation and service model innovation, upgrade the industrial base and modernize the industrial chain, promote the high-quality development of the medical equipment sector, and strongly support the protection of people’s lives and health.
IV. Development goals of the Plan
The Plan proposes the overall goal in 2025 and long-range objectives through 2035 of the development of the medical equipment sector in China. By 2025, the medical equipment sector should significantly upgrade its industrial base and modernize its industrial chain, basically achieve effective supply of mainstream medical equipment, significantly enhance high-end medical equipment product performance and quality levels, and preliminarily form the capacity to fully support public health and health care needs. By 2035, the medical equipment sector should reach the world’s advanced levels in medical equipment R&D, manufacturing and application; China should ascend to become a leader among medical equipment innovative countries and provide strong support to ensure comprehensive lifecycle health services to people.
To ensure the achievement of the overall goal in 2025, the Plan has five sub-goals around the industrial chain, technological level, enterprise vitality, industrial ecology, and brand influence:
Firstly, optimization and upgrading of the industrial chain. Bottlenecks and shortcomings in basic parts and components, basic software, basic materials, basic processes, basic industrial technologies, etc. of medical equipment should be urgently addressed, and highly innovative, high value-added, safe and reliable industrial chain and supply chain should be established.
Secondly, continuous improvement of technological level. Medical equipment should be applied on a large scale in areas of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, health promotion, public health, etc. A group of high-end products including ECMO machine, laparoscopic surgical robot, 7T whole-body MRI system, and proton and heavy-ion integrated therapeutic system should be applied.
Thirdly, significant enhancement of enterprise vitality. Leading medical equipment enterprises should significantly enhance ecological dominance and core competence. A group of world-leading enterprises in sub-sectors and a group of specialized, refined, differentiated, and innovative “little giant” enterprises with core technologies and unique processes should be fostered, and interconnected development of micro, small, medium-sized and large enterprises should be achieved.
Fourthly, gradual improvement of industrial ecology. Multi-dimensional medical-industrial collaboration for innovation, including medicine + industry, hospitals + factories, and doctors + engineers, should be established, and rapid development of health and medical services and comprehensive innovative development of telemedicine, mobile health care, smart health care, precision medicine, characteristic TCM should be achieved.
Fifthly, significant improvement in brand influence. Chinese medical equipment enterprises should rapidly raise product recognition, brand reputation, and international influence and significantly improve their status in global industrial division and value chain, and six to eight enterprises ranking among the top 50 in the global medical device industry should be strived for.
Overall, the goals in the Plan are very challenging, but they are necessary and practical ones as the sector develops. The establishment of the goals in the Plan is essential for implementing the task arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in the new development stage and under the new development philosophy and pattern, meeting people’s growing demand for health and adapting to the profound changes in the international development environment and is an essential vision based on the series of results achieved during the 13th Five-year Plan period.
V. Main tasks and measures of the Plan
The Plan focuses on people’s growing demand for medical and health care, clinical needs, and health security and proposes a “7-5-5-6” idea, i.e., center on 7 key areas, arrange 5 key tasks, implement 5 special actions, and adopt 6 security measures, to advance the achievement of the development goals for the medical equipment sector.
VI. Implementation of the Plan
Work in three aspects will be focused on, to advance the implementation of the Plan.
*The content is truncated. For the full text, please click the link: http://www.camdi.org/news/10550.
I. Background of the Plan
As an important material basis for the medical and health care cause, medical equipment directly relates to people’s lives and health. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of the medical equipment sector and General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that we should “accelerate fixing the country’s ‘weak link’ in the high-end medical equipment sector.” During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, related authorities including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission focused on improving the policy system, increasing support, and giving full play to the initiative of research institutions, medical equipment sector, medical system, etc., and promoted China’s medical equipment sector to achieve fast development, with the market size growing from RMB 480 billion in 2015 to RMB 840 billion in 2020, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 11.8%. The medical equipment manufacturing system has become sound in China, and a medical equipment product system with more than 1,100 varieties in 22 categories has been formed, to cover all health links and basically meet the diagnosis & treatment, elderly care, chronic disease prevention and treatment and emergency rescue needs of medical institutions in China. Medical equipment enterprises have developed and grown, with more than 2,300 enterprises above designated size achieving main business income of more than RMB 410 billion in 2020, a group of highly competitive leading enterprises and distinctive industrial clusters have emerged in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Rim, and China has become an important medical equipment production and manufacturing base in the world. Medical equipment enterprises actively organized production and ensured supply especially during the early days of fighting COVID-19, which effectively supported COVID-19 prevention and control in China and cooperation against COVID-19 in the world.
II. Preparation process of the Plan
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission organized industry experts to launch the research project of the Development Plan for the Medical Equipment Sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period in July 2019. A total of 10 authorities including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Healthcare Security Administration, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Medical Products Administration set up a preparation group to officially launch the study and drafting of the Plan in May 2020. In the preparation process of the Plan, the preparation group went down to communities with industry experts and held symposiums in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to listen to opinions and suggestions from local government departments, industry organizations, medical institutions, research institutes, colleges and universities, key enterprises (including foreign-funded enterprises), etc. Opinions from society were also solicited via the portal website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and expert groups were organized many times to study, demonstrate, modify and improve the Plan.
The preparation of the Plan thoroughly implemented the spirit of the important instruction of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council that the preparation of plans for the 14th Five-year Plan period should “extensively pool wisdom to study new circumstances and make new plans.”
III. Overall consideration of the Plan
The overall idea of the Plan is to follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the guiding principles from the 19th CPC National Congress and the second through sixth plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, ground the work in the new stage of development, fully and faithfully implement the new development philosophy, foster a new development pattern, remain committed to the people-centered development thinking, coordinate development and security, implement Healthy China and manufacturing power strategic arrangements, focus on clinical needs and health security, strengthen medical-industrial collaboration, advance technological innovation, product innovation and service model innovation, upgrade the industrial base and modernize the industrial chain, promote the high-quality development of the medical equipment sector, and strongly support the protection of people’s lives and health.
IV. Development goals of the Plan
The Plan proposes the overall goal in 2025 and long-range objectives through 2035 of the development of the medical equipment sector in China. By 2025, the medical equipment sector should significantly upgrade its industrial base and modernize its industrial chain, basically achieve effective supply of mainstream medical equipment, significantly enhance high-end medical equipment product performance and quality levels, and preliminarily form the capacity to fully support public health and health care needs. By 2035, the medical equipment sector should reach the world’s advanced levels in medical equipment R&D, manufacturing and application; China should ascend to become a leader among medical equipment innovative countries and provide strong support to ensure comprehensive lifecycle health services to people.
To ensure the achievement of the overall goal in 2025, the Plan has five sub-goals around the industrial chain, technological level, enterprise vitality, industrial ecology, and brand influence:
Firstly, optimization and upgrading of the industrial chain. Bottlenecks and shortcomings in basic parts and components, basic software, basic materials, basic processes, basic industrial technologies, etc. of medical equipment should be urgently addressed, and highly innovative, high value-added, safe and reliable industrial chain and supply chain should be established.
Secondly, continuous improvement of technological level. Medical equipment should be applied on a large scale in areas of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, health promotion, public health, etc. A group of high-end products including ECMO machine, laparoscopic surgical robot, 7T whole-body MRI system, and proton and heavy-ion integrated therapeutic system should be applied.
Thirdly, significant enhancement of enterprise vitality. Leading medical equipment enterprises should significantly enhance ecological dominance and core competence. A group of world-leading enterprises in sub-sectors and a group of specialized, refined, differentiated, and innovative “little giant” enterprises with core technologies and unique processes should be fostered, and interconnected development of micro, small, medium-sized and large enterprises should be achieved.
Fourthly, gradual improvement of industrial ecology. Multi-dimensional medical-industrial collaboration for innovation, including medicine + industry, hospitals + factories, and doctors + engineers, should be established, and rapid development of health and medical services and comprehensive innovative development of telemedicine, mobile health care, smart health care, precision medicine, characteristic TCM should be achieved.
Fifthly, significant improvement in brand influence. Chinese medical equipment enterprises should rapidly raise product recognition, brand reputation, and international influence and significantly improve their status in global industrial division and value chain, and six to eight enterprises ranking among the top 50 in the global medical device industry should be strived for.
Overall, the goals in the Plan are very challenging, but they are necessary and practical ones as the sector develops. The establishment of the goals in the Plan is essential for implementing the task arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in the new development stage and under the new development philosophy and pattern, meeting people’s growing demand for health and adapting to the profound changes in the international development environment and is an essential vision based on the series of results achieved during the 13th Five-year Plan period.
V. Main tasks and measures of the Plan
The Plan focuses on people’s growing demand for medical and health care, clinical needs, and health security and proposes a “7-5-5-6” idea, i.e., center on 7 key areas, arrange 5 key tasks, implement 5 special actions, and adopt 6 security measures, to advance the achievement of the development goals for the medical equipment sector.
VI. Implementation of the Plan
Work in three aspects will be focused on, to advance the implementation of the Plan.
*The content is truncated. For the full text, please click the link: http://www.camdi.org/news/10550.