Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam said that self-sufficiency in the production of medical equipment is very important instead of relying mainly on imported goods, when the demand for medical examination and treatment is increasing.
“The recent Covid-19 pandemic has shown the huge limitations of depending on imported goods, from very simple things like medical masks,” Mr. Nam said at H.Seminar on opportunities and challenges of domestic enterprises producing high-tech medical equipmentAugust 16.
In fact, domestic medical equipment manufacturing enterprises are still very limited. Vietnam has begun to have many preferential policies to encourage investment and development for domestic medical manufacturing enterprises. In March, the City People’s Committee approved the Project on developing the pharmaceutical industry in Ho Chi Minh City until 2030, with a vision to 2045. In which, the city will establish and develop the first specialized medical and pharmaceutical industrial park in the country, with factories producing pharmaceuticals, medicinal materials, and auxiliary products; especially manufacturing medical equipment and supplies.
According to Mr. Nam, this is a great opportunity and challenge for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the research and production of high-tech medical equipment with international or foreign-invested enterprises. This requires Vietnamese enterprises to innovate, update and apply science and technology in research and production to provide timely, high-quality and highly competitive products throughout the supply chain.
With more than 40 years of experience in the testing field, Dr. Pham Thi Lan, Professional Director of Laditec Testing Center, said that medical equipment has so far relied on imports. Meanwhile, if equipment can be produced domestically, the health sector will take the initiative in the source of goods, will not have to stockpile much, will not have interruptions in supply, and will likely have lower prices. Dr. Diep Bao Tuan, Deputy Executive Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, hopes that there will be many Vietnamese enterprises producing medical supplies and good, effective products for patients at competitive prices in the context of hospitals being financially independent.
Vacuum blood collection test tube, product manufactured by Vietnamese enterprise. Photo: Le Phuong
Meanwhile, according to Mr. Truong Hung, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Medical Equipment Association, it is extremely difficult for domestic enterprises to bring products to the market, to hospitals, and to patients, from procedures, techniques, finances… “Currently, some countries have policies to prioritize domestically produced goods, but Vietnam has not been able to do this,” said Mr. Hung.
On the other hand, Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Thuy, Director of Wembley Medical – a medical equipment manufacturing enterprise with 100% Vietnamese capital investment, said that one of the challenges is having to invest heavily in equipment, machinery, factories… to meet the increasing technical and product quality requirements of medical examination and treatment facilities. The paradox is that product prices must be low to compete with imported goods, especially goods from countries with government support such as India, China…
According to Ms. Thuy, Vietnam has many preferential policies for domestically produced medical equipment products. However, businesses face difficulties when submitting bidding documents to prove that the goods are domestically produced to enjoy incentives. This difficulty stems from the lack of detailed guidance documents on the list of documents proving the localization rate, along with the lack of consistency among agencies.
Not to mention, the time for approval of a circulation license is relatively long. “It takes a long time from research to when a product meets all the conditions to submit an application. If we wait another 2-3 years for a license, we often miss the market,” said Ms. Thuy.
Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Tang Chi Thuong hopes that in addition to bringing technology from abroad to produce in Vietnam, companies need to innovate and create more products with good quality but low cost. Enterprises should connect with the place of use, which is the hospital, to research suitable products.