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Apr 25, 2023

Imports lead medical consumables market

Sales of medical devices in Bangladesh could be as high as Tk 20,000 crore but

Sales of medical devices in Bangladesh could be as high as Tk 20,000 crore but local manufacturers can meet only 4 per cent of the annual demand while the rest is imported.

A medical device can be any instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, appliance, implant, reagent for in vitro use, software or material used for a medical purpose, according to the World Health Organisation.

Today, there are an estimated 2 million different kinds of medical devices on the world market, categorised into more than 7,000 generic device groups, it added.

Over 30,000 types of devices are used in Bangladesh, according to industry insiders.

However, only a handful of medical consumables are made here, namely disposable and insulin syringes, disposable needles, infusion sets, alcohol prep pads, blood transfusion sets, bags and surgical gloves.

Just six firms are engaged in making the products -- JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing, GETWELL of Pran-RFL Group, ANC Medical Device Bd, Opso Saline, Techno Drugs and Incepta Pharmaceuticals.

Industry insiders said manufacturing medical consumables involves the use of advanced technology that deliver precision and quality alongside long waits for a return on big investments.

This discourages investors from venturing into the sector in spite of the huge strides Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry took in the last four decades.

In addition, the country has to import most of its high-tech medical devices such as x-ray films and nebulisers.

The bulk of medical supplies are imported from the US, China, South Korea and Europe.

"The market for medical devices and medical supplies is very big," said Md Esam Ibne Yousuf Siddique, chief administrative officer of Square Hospitals.

"It is not possible to share any statistics regarding the market size. What we can say is that we require roughly Tk 100 crore-worth medical devices and medical supplies annually.

"Medical devices are very high-tech and require large investment. Companies that make devices also have their own research and development wings," he said, adding that the domestic market for high-tech products was not big enough to attract investors.

"But there is scope for medical supplies which is also a big market. And we see investment coming in this area."

Bangladesh is dependent on the import of both disposable and non-disposable medical consumables, said Prof Debabrata Banik, dean of the medical technology faculty at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

"The gross market size is big but item-wise, not that much. For this reason investment in this sector is yet to be viable for business," he noted.

However, he said more devices would be locally available within the next 10 years as the peoples' purchasing capacity would increase.

Bangladesh needs to import almost all kinds of devices to meet the local demand as local companies manufacture very few items, said importer Shah Newaz Tamal, managing director of Healthium Medtech Pvt.

According to him, importers themselves do not have the capability to set up manufacturing plants of medical devices while consumers were sceptical of the quality of products made here.

"There is huge potential for investment in this sector as local manufacturers can cater to just around Tk 700 crore of the total demand," said Md Abdur Razzak, chairman of JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Ltd.

Industry insiders said local firms have so far invested around Tk 2,000 crore to manufacture medical devices, creating employment for 12,000 people.

He said the sector dealt with advanced technology to ensure product quality and this necessitates big investments which some might find tough to source.

He said JMI invested over Tk 1,100 crore, which includes $80 million (around Tk 683.92 crore) from a Japanese company.

He went on to say that JMI created employment for around 7,500 people who were mostly skilled.

Appreciating an existing "Registration Guidelines for Medical Device, Bangladesh 2015" as a milestone for the sector, Razzak suggested upgrading it. He did not go into details.

"We need a huge investment to fulfil the gaps in this sector," he noted.

Although the sector is still small, the industry could focus on import substitute products, such as helping the healthcare sector by providing auto-disable syringes which was being used to inject Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

Taskin Mustafa Choudhury, consultant for investor relations and international marketing at ANC Medical Device Bd, which manufactures medical equipment under the brand name "Safe", said there was huge potential for investment in this sector as it was highly import-oriented.

He said it takes around three years to go for commercial production after installation of capital machinery to ensure quality products.

"Local manufacturers can cater to only 10 per cent of the total demand of medical equipment in Bangladesh," he noted.

According to him, Bangladesh needs medical equipment worth around Tk 20,000 crore per year while local manufacturers can provide only Tk 2,000 crore worth.

Kamruzzaman Kamal, director (marketing) of Pran-RFL Group, said local manufacturers produce only plastic related medical consumables.

He said manufacturing such medical consumables was a labour intensive process and the pharmaceutical companies were not interested on investing in this sector.

However, he said, Pran-RFL Group invested in this sector with a view to contribute import substitutes.

He also said the contribution of the sector was not significant in terms of the country's requirement.

Hishab Uddin Ahmed, deputy general manager of Opsonin Pharma, which started producing medical devices in 1995, said local devices were being made in sufficient numbers to meet demand here.

However, the list of medical devices and needed here was long and Bangladeshi manufacturers are merely at the tip of the iceberg, he said.

"The main challenge for manufacturing all types of medical devices is commercial viability as the market size was not big enough for business," he noted.

SM Shafiuzzaman, managing director of Hudson Pharmaceuticals and secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries, said it was tough for a few companies to cater to all the demand.

"We need at least 100 companies to cater to the demand of the country. The number of products being manufactured here is slowly getting registered as per the government-formulated policy," he noted.