By increasing government expenditure on healthcare and rapidly increasing demand for innovative medical technologies, Singapore medical devices market is expected to grow quickly, according to a leading analytic company.
Singapore aims to provide smart healthcare to people with the help of novel technologies, which is helping the country to withstand the impact of COVID-19 on its healthcare system. This report reveals that the Singapore healthcare market is a strongly growing market in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on health technology and research and development.
Telemedicine, electronic health records, patient solutions, medical diagnostics, health management solutions, personal health and fitness, and medical education are some of the areas where technology plays a major role.
The report reveals that government initiatives such as Diagnostics Development (DxD) Initiative and the Smart Nation initiative will support the increased demand for medical devices by the rapidly ageing population to drive the market in Singapore.
Singapore’s public and private healthcare expenditure, which accounts for about 5.3% of GDP in 2020, is expected to exceed 8.5% in 2030. This increase can be attributed to the Singapore government’s focus on raising the healthcare expenditure driven by the growing consumption of healthcare services by the general population.
Medical Devices Analyst stated that the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan (RIE2025), launched by the Singaporean government, holds a budget of around US$19bn with ‘Human Health and Potential’ as one of the major areas of focus. The plan is expected to strengthen the medical devices industry in the country.
To keep up with advances in biomedical science and encourage the development of new clinical treatments, The Ministry of Health, in partnership with Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and other governmental bodies, have increased their focus on investing in clinical and translational research.
Singapore provides universal health coverage to citizens and permanent residents. Almost 80% of the healthcare cost is subsidised by the government. Polyclinics in Singapore are also adopting new technologies such as virtual systems, and this is making healthcare delivery more accessible and affordable, especially during the pandemic.
Using a virtual system, the attending nurse enters the details of the patient’s medical condition, and the computer algorithm in the device will recommend required tests and consultation with specialists at the National Heart Centre, Singapore. This will provide faster service to patients while eliminating incidental costs that accompany hospital visits, and help the physician attend to more patients each day.
Adherence to the ASEAN Medical Device Directive’s (AMDD) basic policies is expected to be followed by all ASEAN countries in the next few years. The AMDD system for registering and assessing medical devices requires ASEAN countries to follow uniform classification criteria for medical devices. This will provide medical device companies with a common market of more than 600 million people.
There has been an obvious and significant rise in the development and deployment of transformational technologies in the healthcare system during the pandemic in Singapore, and this demonstrates the commitment of the country in achieving its aim of providing technology-driven healthcare solutions to its citizens
As reported by OpenGov Asia, Digital Monitoring Solution is one of the examples of Singapore’s innovation in medical devices. The Digital Monitoring Solution is an affordable and fully integrated smart health platform comprising a tamper-proof smart wearable, mobile app, geofence locator, remote monitoring dashboard and automatic alerts.
The solution provides a holistic 360-degree view for round-the-clock monitoring and detailed record logs of a seafarer’s well-being, combining key vitals tracking (temperature, heart rate, SPO2, activity level and sleep patterns), highly accurate indoor geofencing with automated geofence quarantine monitoring and health symptoms monitoring. It analyses and triangulates information collected and can detect abnormalities and assess risks.