61st CMEF

'China Will be the Biggest Medical Devices Market in the World'

This year's international China Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) had a special focus on IT and introduced this section in the exhibition this year, says Nancy Singh

The grand inauguration ceremony

One of the stalls at the international pavilion

At the risk of sounding cliché, the 61st international China Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) held at Shenzhen, China from April 18-21 was another successful addition to the series of expos carried out over the years.

No doubt that world is keeping a keen eye on the way China market is shaping up and there are inevitable comparisons between India and China, but as far as healthcare goes, the Chinese healthcare market is beyond comparison, considering the fact that 90 per cent of healthcare is provided by the Government and the good news for the medical industry as well as consumers is the fact that Chinese Government has just cleared a stimulus package of $100 million solely for improving healthcare in the country.

Not surprisingly, China domestic market is huge and there are many small and big players catering to this market with international players too, keen on entering this market. CMEF is the biggest platform they can get to network and connect as much as possible. It is reportedly Asia's largest exhibition on medical devices. Said Dave Sanders, Director, Roadmap Innovation Healthcare & Education, USA pavilion, "This is a very important show for us to expand our reach in Chinese marketplace. We are able to meet a number of potential re-sellers and end-users for our products, while learning about key product developments at this show."

Domestic Market: Huge Potential

The Chinese medical devices market is dominated mostly by the local players who provide cutting edge technology at a very competitive price. One of the leaders in radiology in China is WDM, a listed company in Shangai Stock Exchange. "Ten per cent of our revenues come from exports. Otherwise, we want to focus more on domestic market, considering the advantage that we have over other players and also the fact that China is a huge market already," said Yao Wen, General Manager, WDM. She also feels that recession has marginally affected their exports business and thinks that recession has started to stabilise and things are not as bad as other areas like textiles and toys. Ten per cent of the company's revenues come from international market. Another leader that dominates China market in medical equipment segment is Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment and Supply Company Limited.

Said J Chen, Director of Investment & Secretary of Board, "The China medical devices market is growing, thanks to the favourable Government policies. I think in three to five years, it would be the biggest medical market in the world, overtaking the US. Being a local company, we have the cultural advantage. Also, we target mid-level hospitals and rural healthcare. Major MNCs like GE, Philips, Siemens target the high-end hospitals. Hence, they are not our direct competitors. We have an edge over other companies because we provide equipment at one-third the price of other companies. In China, 800 million people reside in rural territories. Hence, it is a huge market for us."

One more company which has its eyes in rural healthcare of China is Carestream. It has charted out aggressive plans to expand in this part of the continent. "China is undoubtedly one of the largest market in the world. We have a strong presence here. We have a strong relationship with the Health Ministry. We have a lot of manufacturing units here. We have grown our presence. We have developed value-priced products for rural healthcare market. Unlike India, China has a robust infrastructure in rural areas. It is very well networked," said Kevin J Hobert, CEO, Carestream Health.

Focus on IT

This year's CMEF had a special focus on IT and introduced this section in the exhibition this year. It was a newly launched segment which condenses the whole development process of the hospital information management. This segment was also devoted to advocate the latest technologies of hospital information industry. Another speciality segment was 'Medisoft' which focused on the registration, logistics, services involved in the medical devices industry.

It was a good platform to promote effective and efficient interactions between the medical device manufacturers and service providers. Said Ahmed Hassan, Marketing and Development Manager, Dream Med, Egypt, "CMEF is a great fair and I like the competitive pricings here. I'm looking for certified quality medical equipment and I've found a large number of such products at the show."

Bigger and Better

With almost 2,100 exhibitors spread across an area of 10,000 square feet, CMEF is therefore an excellent platform for anyone interested in medical devices segment. It is just a one-stop shop for interested parties to display and trade for their products. Be it imaging, diagnostics, critical patient care, electronics or other healthcare products and services for hospital and medical institutes, it was all available under one roof.

Although this show happens twice a year (every six months), exhibitors unanimously opined that it would indeed be better if it occurs only once a year, considering the cost and logistics issue. Also, keeping in mind the fact that in autumn season most exhibitors are busy in Germany at Medica, the largest medical expo in the world. Nevertheless, as long as the visitors keep poring in and CMEF grows bigger and better with each passing year, establishing itself as a quality show to reckon with, the organisers were the last to complain on anything!