Other Key Announcements Affecting Medical Devices

Along with MIC 2025, the Chinese government has announced several initiatives in the medical device sector:

• March 2015 The China Association of Medical Equipment (CAME) released the first catalogue of the Outstanding Domestic Equipment Catalogue. Of the 218 products submitted for consideration by 57 companies, 95 products from 27 companies were selected. Several foreign multinational companies with local factories in China submitted applications for the catalogue, however all of the selected products were manufactured by Chinese companies. This issue covered digital x-rays, color ultrasounds, and fully automatic biochemical analyzers.
• May 2015 The State Council issued the Notice on Deepening Healthcare Reform, stating that “publicly-owned hospitals will preferentially equip and utilize domestic medical equipment and apparatus.”
• September 2015 Miao Wei, the minster of the Ministry of Health and Information Technology (MIIT) and Li Bin, chair of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) signed an agreement for the two groups to collaborate in the research and development of China’s innovation capabilities. Ms. Bin emphasized the utilization of policies and providing government funds to health institutions to participate in the research, innovation, and application of domestically produced medical devices. Additionally, a program was established to incentivize medical and health organizations to use domestically produced medical devices.
• February 2016 The CAME issued the second catalogue of the Outstanding Domestic Equipment Catalogue. Of the 209 applications submitted, 153 products were approved, again no devices made by a foreign multinational company even with local factories in China were chosen. Sectors covered in this catalog were MRI machines, computer tomography (CT) scanners, automatic blood cell analyzers, respirators, anesthesia machines, blood dialysis machines, and automatic medicine dispensing machines.
• March 2016 The State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry. The publication states that “where domestically produced pharmaceuticals and medical devices can meet the required need, government procurement projects…should procure domestically produced products.”
• August 2016 The State Council released the Plan to Enhance Standardization and Quality of Equipment Manufacturing. This plan aims to spread Chinese manufacturing standards globally, particularly to countries participating in One-Belt One-Road, a Chinese initiative focused on connecting China to Eurasian countries through infrastructure, trade, and investment.