Huge potential awaits tapping

Bangladesh’s import-dependent medical equipment sector can become a big forex earner through proper policy support and more investment, stakeholders say.

Although locally-manufactured items are drawing more buyers, traders said local companies could not meet even 10 per cent of the demand for products they produce.

“The sector has enormous potential,” said Sharif Uddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Medical Instrument and Hospital Equipment Dealers and Manufacturers Association. 

Stakeholders say that the local medical equipment market is worth around Tk 15,000 crore. The government procures equipment worth around Tk 8,000-10,000 crore every year.

The market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.4 per cent.

Heavy import-dependence

Although local companies are manufacturing a wide range of products, from needles to stethoscopes or operating theatres, ICUs, and healthcare laboratories, they are yet to produce surgical items.

Traders in the capital’s two largest wholesale medical equipment markets said local companies could not supply various equipment throughout the year, leading to import dependency. Of the total imports, 75 per cent comes from China.

In the last three years, the import of medical equipment increased. Goods worth $400 million were imported in FY19. The following year, the amount rose to $484 million but fell to $463 million in the last FY, according to Bangladesh Bank.

The local industry is gradually changing. Five years ago, five companies made a tiny amount of equipment but currently, more than a dozen companies produce medical equipment.

Rakibul Islam Nirab, general manager of National Electro Care, said it was not easy to start work in this sector a decade ago. Currently, the local manufacturers are producing 27 types of products. The Surgical Diathermy and Diagnostic Centre are making instruments, including centrifuges for glucometer testing of haemoglobin in the blood.

“These products, costing 30-40 per cent less than the imported items, have been able to capture market easily since they offer better quality than Chinese and Indian goods,” he said.

He said the cost of manufacturing products is high and noted that the linkage industry, the light engineering sector, is lagging. “It will be easier to move forward with the government’s cooperation,” he said, calling for formulating supportive policies.

More investment needed

Various equipment is being made in the factories of promixco healthcare, JMI, Opsonin, Beximco, Celtron Electro Medical Services, National Electro, Mofizur Rahman & Sons and Gatewell of RFL group.

Essential products of the healthcare sector like masks, gloves and PPE and syringes, needles, and canola have been produced. In addition, operation theatre (OT) tables, OT lights, coronary care unit beds, ICU beds, dental units and other equipment, ECG machines, maternity tables, dental chairs, patient monitors and patient examination tables, nebulisers, air pump mattresses, weight measuring scales, autoclaves, suction machines, baby incubators, phototherapy machines and physiotherapy equipment are being manufactured.

Md Saifuddin, the proprietor of Mofizur Rahman & Sons, said the sector needs more investment to diversify products and boost production. “It’ll help us meet local demand and increase export,” he said.

Bangladesh is currently exporting medical equipment to 40 countries, including Belgium, India, EU, USA, and Turkey. In FY21, the export earnings from this sector were $18.63 million, down from $25 million in FY19, Export Promotion Bureau data show.

Easing process

Treatment involves the use of numerous instruments.

Bandages are in high demand. Stakeholders said Bangladesh has to import different types of bandages, including LD exclusive belts (for post-operative use), LD and RD pads, LD cotton (for operation or cut or wound dressing) and LD bandages or thin gloves (for bandage use).

Medical equipment has been identified as a priority sector in the National Industrial Policy and Export Policy. In its Investment Handbook, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority said the country’s medical equipment sector has expanded much faster in the last three years. On average, it has grown at a rate of 14.6 per cent a year, the highest in the world.

The manufacturer’s association said that the current investment in this sector is about Tk 1,500 crore. Stakeholders have called for removing bottlenecks and easing the process to set up and operate industries to attract local and foreign investors.

Ahmed, the association’s president, said the government should pay attention to this sector as more foreign companies show interest in investing.

“More investment here will help us cut imports and diversify products,” he said. “But it will need the government’s cooperation to set up industries. If the process were easy, there would be a lot more investment.”