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The Ministry of Health has issued new directives aimed at ensuring a stable supply of medical devices for both outpatient and inpatient care. The measures come amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which continues to disrupt global supply chains for medical devices and related consumables used in treatment.
The Ministry assigns the Department of Infrastructure and Medical Equipment to proactively review and update market conditions for medical device supply. The department will analyze risks of supply disruption for essential medical device groups and develop contingency plans to regulate the supply chain, with the goal of maintaining stable availability of devices for examinations and treatment.
The department will also review and update nationwide import, inventory, and demand data. It will work with enterprises, importers, and manufacturers to diversify medical device sources, reduce dependence on markets considered high risk, and promote the use of domestically produced devices.
The directives call for accelerating licensing procedures, promptly resolving backlogs, shortening appraisal times, and avoiding bureaucratic bottlenecks that could delay medical device supply for patient care.
Price management for medical devices is also to be strengthened to prevent hoarding, price manipulation, or unjustified price increases.
The Institute of Medical Equipment and Construction will coordinate with relevant units to assess the quality and technical standards of medical devices. It will accelerate testing, certification, conformity assessment, and compliance reviews to support timely issuance.
The Institute is also tasked with researching and proposing technical solutions for using equivalent or substitute devices when equipment is difficult to import or faces supply disruption risk. It will guide healthcare facilities in selecting and using devices that meet safety, effectiveness, and suitability requirements for real-world conditions.
Provincial health departments are instructed to have healthcare facilities review and evaluate the status of medical equipment and consumables. They should assess supply capabilities and usage needs nationwide, identify early shortages, and develop plans to coordinate and regulate devices and supplies at the local level—particularly for essential devices and supplies used in emergency care, resuscitation, and disease control.
The Ministry also emphasizes shortening processing times for licensing, purchasing, and receiving medical devices, ensuring administrative procedures do not become a bottleneck to patient care. Monitoring and enforcement of price regulations and medical device trade are to be highlighted to prevent speculative activity, hoarding, price manipulation, or unreasonable price increases in localities.
Hospitals under the Ministry are asked to participate in proactively reviewing device usage and supplier capacity and to develop contingency plans, especially for essential medical devices used in emergency care and treatment, to avoid shortages.
Hospitals should also develop plans to use substitute devices or internal transfers as needed, and strengthen maintenance to extend the service life of medical devices.
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