Public Procurement Service Supports Domestic Medical Device Market Expansion Including Increased Nara Market Registration

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service (PPS) supports market expansion by promoting public procurement of domestically produced medical devices.

According to the PPS on the 20th, the medical device market is currently expanding due to accelerated aging and an increase in infectious diseases.

However, the domestic medical device market has a 62% import dependency rate, and the use of domestically produced medical devices remains low. This is because medical institutions have low usage rates of domestic medical devices due to lack of experience and awareness of each product.

Accordingly, the PPS has prepared a "Plan to Promote Public Procurement of Domestic Medical Devices" and plans to implement from next year ▲diversification of medical device product categories registered on the Nara Market comprehensive shopping mall ▲improvement of procurement systems reflecting the characteristics of medical devices ▲strengthening marketing support through cooperation with related organizations.

First, the PPS will focus on expanding the range of medical device product categories that can be registered on Nara Market to broaden the market channels for domestic medical devices through public procurement.

Currently, only emergency equipment and simple measuring devices such as low-output defibrillators, automatic electronic blood pressure monitors, electroencephalographs, and pulse meters can be registered. Going forward, the core plan is to enable public procurement through Nara Market for strategic items with high future growth potential such as in vitro diagnostic medical devices and healthcare medical devices, as well as key technological products with global competitiveness such as X-ray and ultrasound imaging diagnostic devices.

In addition, considering the conservative purchasing tendencies of the medical industry to maintain and use existing products and the difficulties faced by companies, provisions will be made to allow medical devices designated as innovative products to be supplied through multiple supplier contracts without prior delivery records.

However, due to the nature of medical devices related to public life and safety, the PPS explained that exceptions to the two-stage competition in multiple supplier contracts will be applied to ensure appropriate pricing and prevent destructive competition after contract signing.

Furthermore, the PPS plans to actively promote excellent medical devices to national and public hospitals through demonstrations at the procurement exhibition "Nara Market Expo" and seek strategic market support plans tailored to the characteristics of each medical device by collecting opinions from industry, demand institutions, and related ministries.

Kim Jeong-woo, Administrator of the PPS, said, "The bio-health industry is one of the three big innovative growth sectors (system semiconductors, future cars, bio-health), and it is very important to revitalize related industries to secure future growth engines." He added, "The PPS will strengthen cooperation with related ministries to support domestic medical device manufacturers with technological capabilities to expand their market channels through the public market and further advance into the private and overseas markets."