Translated material
Tomography program
Scandals with the purchase of imported medical equipment will be extinguished by injecting money into our own production
The Russian government sets the task of not only creating a national innovative pharmaceutical industry by 2020, but also intends to build its own production of medical equipment literally from scratch by the same date. Recently, a draft strategy for the development of the domestic medical industry until 2020 was presented at the international exhibition of medical equipment in Dusseldorf. Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko spoke before representatives of 60 of the world's largest and domestic manufacturers of medical equipment and medical supplies. He was the first to promise long-term government contracts with those companies that would soon make proposals to localize their production in Russia. The second is budgetary financial support in the amount of 49 billion rubles. (if the strategy is adopted, these funds will be allocated within the framework of the federal target program). But the biggest incentive for the development of medical production in the country should be the prospects of this market: according to forecasts by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the demand for medical equipment in Russia will more than quadruple in ten years.“We are ready to offer the world’s largest companies long-term contracts for up to five years, even if this requires changes to legislation. Now there is no such practice and cannot be, since there is a federal law in force, according to which the state purchases services and goods only through auctions held at certain intervals,” the Ministry of Industry and Trade explained to Vremya Novostey. Considering that the medical equipment market, unlike the pharmaceutical market, is almost 100% controlled by the state, which is also the main buyer, and depends exclusively on budget money, such a proposal is worth a lot. And Western companies understand this very well.
The state is ready not only to provide scattered and, for the most part, very small Russian companies - manufacturers of medical equipment and consumables - with a stable sales market, but also with “lifting” ones. The Federal Target Program for the development of the medical industry, developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, provides for the allocation of 13 billion rubles. for the creation of domestic production of spare parts for high-tech equipment (tomographs, ultrasound diagnostic devices, angiographs, etc.), 9.6 billion rubles. -- for the development of our own production of diagnostic equipment with a “high degree of visualization”, 6.5 billion rubles. -- for clinical diagnostic equipment and consumables, RUB 3.7 billion. -- for prosthetics and implants, 3.2 billion rubles. -- for diagnostic consumables, RUB 2.3 billion. -- for products for surgery, including minimally invasive surgery.
This targeted program, according to Mr. Khristenko, will become “the main instrument for the development of the industry” for many years to come. “Currently, unprecedented conditions have arisen for the development of the medical industry. The industry is included in the list of priorities for innovative development of the Russian economy, and the presidential commission pays increased attention to this sector. In addition, for the first time, absolutely transparent healthcare development priorities for many years to come have been formulated at this level. There has been a movement towards insurance medicine and modernization of the system as a whole, and this is a direct demand for medical equipment. Thus, the medical industry has a unique opportunity to radically renew and strengthen itself over the next five to six years,” Victor Khristenko campaigned in Dusseldorf, addressing the heads of such giants as Toshiba Medical Systems, Varian Medical Systems, GE Healthcare Systems, Philips Healthcare, Fresenius Medical Care.
The moment to start production now looks really good, including because the state, which has already invested tens of billions of rubles in modernizing the material base of medical institutions within the framework of the national project “Health”, intends to maintain a high level of allocations in this area in the near future. As Mr. Khristenko noted, it is planned to allocate more than 100 billion rubles for the development of nuclear medicine alone until 2016. In addition, manufacturers of medical equipment can count on their share of the 460 billion rubles that the state intends to receive in the next two years through the modernization of the compulsory health insurance system (it is expected that this money will come to compulsory medical insurance through the transition from a single social tax to insurance contributions ). Purchases of medical equipment will also be carried out within the framework of smaller-scale programs - for example, oncology, for which 36.2 billion rubles are planned to be spent in the coming years. Together, these injections significantly increase the demand for medical equipment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is confident.
But for now, Russia’s importance in the global market for medical equipment and medical products is small: our country accounts for only 1.1% of global purchases of medical equipment (approximately $3.4 billion per year). If the new strategy for the development of medical technology is successful, the Russian market will be able to absorb up to 3% of the total volume of complex medical devices and consumables - up to 13.6 billion dollars by 2020. It is worth noting that 29.1% of all medical equipment and consumables in the world are sold in the USA, 6.9% in Japan, 6.1% in Germany.
At the same time, the government expects that in a growing market the share of products labeled Made in Russia will increase - today only 22% of the equipment used in Russian medical institutions has this. Almost half of all imported medical products have no domestic analogues. But so far, only two foreign companies have gone for partial localization of production in Russia, if we talk about truly complex equipment: Philips Healthcare, which created a joint venture with NIPK Electron in St. Petersburg, and GE Healthcare, which has a joint venture with MTL CJSC in the Moscow region. They have already built their lines for assembling the first “domestic” tomographs and are trying to set up production, although so far in trial mode. “In the next few years, both of these projects will exist in the mode of large-scale assembly, carrying out only a number of final assembly operations,” Alexey Vanin, head of the analytical department of the Bureau group of companies, explained to Vremya Novostey (this company was hired by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to conduct an analysis of the medical equipment market as part of the preparation of the industry strategy). “So there is no need to talk about any deep localization or technology transfer in practice yet.” According to the expert, rather, we are talking about localizing the minimum functionality sufficient to obtain the status of a Russian manufacturer.
Against the backdrop of increasing reports of criminal cases opened on the facts of fraud with expensive medical equipment, the government’s plans to localize production, even if only in its final stages, may also have a side effect - they will make this market more transparent and open. And the devices themselves are cheaper. The fact is that now the sale and resale of expensive foreign medical equipment is carried out exclusively by Russian intermediary companies. This completely suits foreign manufacturers, who cannot afford to get involved in murky schemes and risk their reputation. By forming joint ventures, foreign companies will begin to independently conduct their business within the country, which should inevitably simplify supply chains, experts say. “The more high-tech medicine is, the larger share of its cost comes from complex medical equipment,” Yuri Krestinsky, director of the Institute for the Development of Public Health, told Vremya Novostey. “In countries with the most developed healthcare systems, this share can reach up to 15%, which is a lot.” The equipment is very expensive, and costs can only be reduced by developing our own production, the expert is sure. “If we establish continuous production of our own medical equipment, then the money will remain in the family, in every sense of the word,” Mr. Krestinsky is sure.