2023-05-28 10:03:44
[헬스코리아뉴스 / 이시우] Cambodia resembles neighboring Vietnam in many ways. The food culture of eating rice noodles, the religious culture of worshiping Buddhism, and even the natural environment. From the outside, it is not easy to distinguish whether this country is Vietnam or Cambodia. However, as the pace of economic development is slower than Vietnam, there are expectations that the growth potential is rather high.
The same goes for the medical field. Among them, the field that is receiving attention these days is the medical device market, which is entirely dependent on imports. According to the Cambodian Ministry of Health, Global Trade Atlas, a global market research institute, and the local trade center of KOTRA, Cambodia’s medical device market is still small compared to neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand, but it is showing rapid growth in recent years thanks to the government’s efforts to improve the medical system. In particular, as the people’s interest in health items increased after COVID-19, demand for medical devices for private medical institutions and home medical devices increased significantly, besides the Ministry of Health of Cambodia, which was the largest consumer of medical devices. Cambodia’s medical device imports increased by about 70.7% over three years, from $573 million in 2019 to $978 million in 2022.
Medical services in Cambodia are supplied by public health facilities, private clinics and hospitals, and multilateral development banks. Recently, with the increase in investment in the medical field by the Cambodian government and the private sector, medical services and related facilities have increased significantly, and demand for medical devices is also on the rise. First of all, public health service areas and facilities have increased every year since 2017, and by 2022, 33 new health areas and facilities have been expanded to a total of 1,648 health areas and facilities.
In the case of private investment facilities for medical services, they are largely divided into medical cabinets, clinics and hospitals, and investment in both fields is increasing. As for the medical cabinet, 427 new facilities opened in 2022. In particular, the number of nursing cabinets and counseling cabinets increased significantly, with 166 and 147 newly established, respectively. A medical cabinet is a small medical facility that provides outpatient consultation and treatment.
Clinics and hospitals are also steadily expanding since 2020. In the case of public health centers, 116 and 182 new ones were established in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Demand for medical devices is growing, with the Cambodian Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently approving a $41 million investment project for Orienda International Hospital Co Ltd and New World Heart & Vascular Hospital Co Ltd, two international hospitals located in Phnom Penh. expected to increase
Above all, it is expected that demand for medical devices in Cambodia will be created stably as funds from multilateral development banks are recently raised for medical projects in Cambodia. In 2022, the Asian Development Bank approved $325 million in Cambodia’s Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Border Region Health Project to improve private access to health care in the Banteay Meanchey region. In 2022, the World Bank approved $113 million in new funding for the second phase of the Heath Equity and Quality Improvement Project, which aims to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
Relying on imports for all medical equipment
Cambodia relies entirely on imports for its medical equipment needs. Cambodia’s major importers of medical devices are the United States, China, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Among them, as of 2022, the United States has the highest share at about 25.9%, followed by China with the second highest share at 17.1%. Korea has the fifth highest share at 8.4%. In particular, China has emerged as a major exporter of medical devices to Cambodia, showing a 289% increase in medical device exports in 2020 and 48% in 2021 during the COVID-19 period.
The main medical equipment items imported from Cambodia are X-ray and ultrasound imaging devices. The share of imports from Korea is also high for both items. In the case of X-Ray, it accounted for the highest share among medical device import items from 2017 to 2022, and the portion made in the United States was the highest. South Korean X-ray exports increased by 32% year-on-year as of 2022, accounting for the fourth share. A person in charge of a Cambodian medical device importer said in an interview with the Phnom Penh Trade Office, “Chinese products are not popular in the private sector due to their poor quality, while Korean products with good price/quality ratio are competitive.”
“Prefer Korean medical devices instead of low-quality Chinese ones”
Ultrasound imaging devices account for about 7% of all imported medical devices in Cambodia. It is mainly imported from China, Japan and Korea. However, China accounted for the largest share, with an increase of about 121% in 2022, but this is due to the demand of public hospitals, and the preference in the private sector is decreasing due to the poor quality of Chinese ultrasound. From 2017 to 2021, imports from Japan accounted for the largest share, and Korean products also accounted for the 2nd and 3rd share of imports each year, which is expected to remain competitive in the future.
The most preferred medical device brands in Cambodia are Samsung Medison, JPI, Mediana, Genoray, SD Biosensor, Alpinion, General Electric, Toshiba, Hitachi Aloka, Shimazu, Fukuda Denshi and Sysmex.
Oh Seung-jun, Phnom Penh Office of Trade, said, “In the case of public health service areas and facilities, only new medical devices are imported and used, while the private sector prefers used medical devices rather than new products due to the high price of medical devices.” , According to a local medical device distributor, Japanese-made used medical devices are widely used in the private sector because of their excellent price/quality ratio.”
Trade Officer Oh said, “If you wish to enter the Cambodian medical device market, we suggest sponsoring various events such as meetings or seminars organized by medical associations.” I can be assigned a booth where I can display my products.” Sponsorship amount ranges from 1,000 to 4,000 dollars. Depending on the amount of sponsorship, a grade such as diamond, platinum, gold, or silver is determined, and booths of different sizes are allocated according to the grade.
When entering the Cambodian medical device market, it is important to cooperate with local business partners. This is because local business partners not only have various distribution networks, but also build strong ties with medical institutions. In the case of Cambodia’s major medical device importers, they train several doctors on how to use and maintain medical devices, and form mutually cooperative relationships to secure stable demand for medical devices.
“The Cambodian government has recently selected improving the medical system as one of its top priorities, and is working to establish a systematic public health care system in cooperation with multilateral development banks,” said Seung-Jun Oh, trade officer. As interest and demand for medicines and medical services are rapidly increasing, Korean medical devices will be promising for entering the Cambodian market.”
For reference, KOTRA is actively providing one-stop services from branching services, holding medical/bio exhibitions and consultations, buyer matching to product registration, maintenance, and follow-up management to help Korean companies enter the Cambodian medical device market.
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