The key to opening up portable electronic medical equipment is popularization

China is rapidly entering an aging society. All kinds of small electronic medical device products suitable for home use will gradually enter the elderly families in China. The key is that medical device manufacturers must do everything possible to reduce production costs and develop affordable products.

With the large-scale promotion of the medical system reform in China, more and more patients, especially those with chronic diseases such as arthritis, hypertension, and bronchitis, have chosen to treat at home. In addition, the acceleration of the aging process has made China one of the countries with high blood pressure and high levels of diabetes in Asia and the world. This laid the foundation for all kinds of home electronic medical device products to enter the family. Domestic electronic medical devices are also called “portable medical devices” in foreign countries. They refer to all kinds of electronic device products for medical use or detection that are small in size, light in weight, use electricity, and are moderately priced.

Chinese and foreign markets have a bright future

In foreign countries, home electronic medical equipment has long been a mature industry. At present, there are at least thousands of home electronic medical device products on the international market. Their products can be divided into the following categories: 1. Electronic sphygmomanometers; 2. Electronic step counters (to participate in jogging and other physical exercise pedometers Table); 3. Digital thermometer or more advanced infrared Ear Thermometer; 4. Digital hearing aids (two types of plug-in and built-in type, already out of the semiconductor hearing aids abroad, is now on the market (Hearing aids are mostly digital products); 5. Healthy weight scales; 6. Hand-held household UV disinfection lamps (for households with tuberculosis and other contagious patients use when disinfecting utensils, clothes, tables and chairs, etc.); 7 Portable multi-functional skin-beautifying devices (These products have developed rapidly in foreign countries. Their principle is the use of radio-frequency technology. They are compact and can be used at home to perform various types of "firming of skin", ablation of double chins, removal of face and neck, etc. Wrinkles, eliminate eye bags and other skin cosmetic surgery, the price is generally between hundreds to thousands of dollars each;) 8. home semiconductor laser treatment equipment (such as laser hair removal device, laser low-frequency acupuncture Therapy, home laser massage, etc.). According to foreign media reports, last year the global home electronics medical device market total sales of more than 80 billion U.S. dollars, and the new one-sided market, full of vitality, and broad prospects for development.

China's portable electronic medical device production began in the mid-1990s and was decades later than in the West. In the past 10 years, China's home electronics medical device industry has begun to exert its power. This is because as China’s urban and rural residents’ economic income continues to improve and their living standards improve, people are increasingly concerned about their own health. In particular, the rapid increase in the “three high” diseases among middle-aged and elderly people in China has made diabetes and hypertension, which have rarely occurred in the past, now become common high-risk species.

According to chief economists of internationally renowned investment companies such as the United States’ Goldman Sachs, the annual sales of the domestic portable electronic medical device market in China will surge from 8 billion yuan in 2006 to 28 billion yuan or more in 2011. A senior APEC official believes that various portable electronic medical devices will become the second wave of hot commodities in China after mobile phones.

As China is rapidly entering an aging society, and pure elderly families (children do not live with elderly parents) will be more and more. In the future, not only small electronic device products such as electronic blood pressure monitors, electronic thermometers, and electronic glucometers will be popularized in Chinese families, including some expensive electronic device products such as portable ventilators (for patients with paralysis or emphysema at home). Such as the use of critically ill patients), portable electrocardiograph (for coronary heart disease patients or myocardial infarction patients), far-infrared therapeutic apparatus and other various types of small electronic medical device products suitable for home use, will gradually enter the elderly in China. The key lies in the fact that China's medical device manufacturers must do everything possible to reduce production costs, develop moderately priced (because most elderly people do not have high pensions), small and exquisite, energy-efficient, and easy-to-operate home electronic medical device products.

U.S. Goldman Sachs recommends that China's medical device manufacturers should learn from their U.S. counterparts and try to use microchip technology, such as low-cost "microcontrollers" (8-bit and 32-bit systems), as a basis for products that can greatly reduce home electronic medical device products. the cost of. With the increasingly advanced microelectronics technology, the cost of the components used in the above-mentioned electronic medical device products has fallen to less than US$1 per unit in the United States and other Western countries. This lays the foundation for the popularity of products.

The reason why China's home electronics medical device products are not as popular as the developed countries is that the level of development of China's electronics industry is not as good as that of the United States and other western countries. Therefore, domestic home electronic medical devices are priced at several hundred yuan each. In thousands of yuan, with the exception of a few elderly people with better economic conditions, the vast majority of retired elderly in China cannot afford this price. On the other hand, in foreign markets, small medical devices such as electronic sphygmomanometers and blood glucose meters are generally priced at around tens of US dollars per unit, and most retirees can afford it. Digital pedometers and other small products cost only a few dollars each. For more than a dozen dollars, the price of a far-infrared treatment device that is slightly more expensive is about one to two hundred dollars per unit.

At present, China's national income level is generally not high, and it cannot be compared with the United States and other Western developed countries. Therefore, if China's medical device industry wants to use the electronic medical device market, the key is that the price of the product must be as low as that of the developed countries like the United States (so that most consumers can afford it). It is too early for China's medical device industry to do this. The author's personal opinion is that the target price of most home-use electronic medical device products in China should be controlled at about RMB 200 yuan per unit, so that electronic medical device products can enter millions of households. The key is to reduce the cost of electronic components. China's medical device manufacturers should change their practices that have long been eager for quick success and profit. They can't blindly pursue high profit margins and do one-shot sales. Instead, they should take measures in developed country manufacturers and do everything possible to develop low-cost electronic medical device products suitable for consumer needs. On the path to healthy development.

Several new types of household electronic medical machinery

Universal home ultrasonic nebulizer atomizer research confirmed that if the drug can be processed into nano- or micron-sized particles can greatly increase its bioavailability and enhance the therapeutic effect. Ultrasonic nebulizer is a kind of new medical product that can process liquid drugs into droplets with the diameter of only a few microns. The nasal mucosa of humans has a large surface area, and the drug "droplet" can absorb its effects through the absorption of the nasal mucosa (avoiding the "first pass effect" of the liver). According to the above new research results, foreign manufacturers have developed and marketed various types of home ultrasonic medicine atomizers. The product is able to atomize various liquid drug preparations and is equipped with an absorption mask. The patient can conveniently use the drug atomizer to self-treat at home. This instrument can treat many common diseases such as asthma and emphysema. Flu, pneumonia, and bronchitis are particularly effective, and they save money and effort. Every year, hundreds of millions of people in China suffer from respiratory diseases. However, there are no such new products in the domestic market. Therefore, the development of new universal electronic medical atomizers for ultrasonic universal drug nebulizers will undoubtedly have a broad market prospect.

Portable electronic vacuum suction device It is understood that the current suction device is only equipped in the hospital / clinic, and in fact there are many elderly families in China, the elderly are most likely to suffer from bronchitis, emphysema and other respiratory diseases, and sometimes a mouthful Congestion in the throat is likely to be the life of the elderly, so there is ample room for growth in the domestic market for domestic suckers. A small vacuum suction device that has already been used in homes abroad has been on the market. It is reported that a medical device company in Shandong, China has recently developed a portable vacuum suction device, its small size, lighter weight, suitable for ordinary home use, of course, is also suitable for rural clinics. But its price is a few thousand yuan per station, which may be a bit expensive for most elderly people. At present, the products are mainly exported to overseas markets and there are less domestic sales.

Electronic muscle stimulator The electronic muscle stimulator is one of the new products for home-use small-scale electronic medical devices. It is developed and manufactured for the Monta Vista electronic medical device company in Italy. The product name is Linux, there are 6 channels (from weak to strong) can send different electrical stimulation signals, the instrument also has a color display, the operator can at a glance Observe the strength of the current situation (represented by lines ). In addition, Linux is equipped with a stereo digital radio device using Bluetooth technology. The operator can receive electric stimulation muscle massage while listening to beautiful stereo music. It is suitable for sports enthusiasts, the elderly and arthritis patients.

Pulse Oximeter Oximeter can be used to measure the oxygen content in the blood. It is a commonly used medical device product in foreign countries. Foreign manufacturers have developed a compact oximeter with a weight of only about 50g, which is suitable for home or oxygen bar and other environments. When you use it, you only need to press the index finger on the surface of the instrument to display the value of blood oxygen saturation.

Doppler fetal heart sounds ultrasound detectors previously used to detect fetal heart sounds must go to the hospital and be operated by professional medical personnel. Not long ago, a new type of domestic fetal heart sound Doppler ultrasound tester was developed and marketed abroad. According to the manufacturer, the instrument is equipped with a small ultrasound probe that can be placed on the abdomen by pregnant women to detect fetal heartbeat at any time. It is said that the heartbeat of the fetus can be clearly detected from the 8 weeks of pregnancy. Once fetal hypoxia or abnormal heartbeats are found, pregnant women can immediately go to the hospital for treatment.