(People’s Daily Health Client Reporter Kong Tianjiao) After the centralized procurement of high-value medical consumables has attracted attention under the normalization of bulk procurement, there is now a centralized procurement for low-value medical consumables. The starting point of centralized procurement is to reduce the price of high-priced drugs and consumables. Do blood sugar test strips and disposable catheter irrigators, etc., which are not expensive in themselves, also need centralized procurement?
Carry out centralized procurement of low-value consumables in many places
People’s Daily health client reporter found that Fujian Sanming Purchasing Alliance Office recently released the “Sanming Purchasing Alliance Medical Consumables Procurement Document (SM-HC2022-1)”, carry out centralized procurement of 8 types of medical consumables such as blood glucose test strips and nebulizers, and start the centralized procurement of low-value consumables in 19 provinces and cities of the alliance.
According to the document, the reporter found that blood glucose test strips, disposable sterile syringes, nebulizers, disposable pre-filled catheter irrigators, disposable vaginal dilators, and disposable intravenous nutrition infusion bags , One-time use of enteral nutrition infusion bag, one-time use of cervical balloon catheter, these eight categories have become the types of consumables purchased this time, and most of them are indispensable in clinical practice.
The document pointed out that the participating areas of this procurement alliance include 19 provinces and cities, namely Hebei Province, Qinghai Province, Hohhot City, Wuhai City, Taiyuan City, Yuncheng City, Yangquan City, Jixi City City, Jinan City, Linyi City, Yudu County, Shaoyang City, Loudi City, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Zhoukou City, Zhaotong City, Yuxi City, Shihezi City, Sanming City.
On April 27 this year, the Hebei Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau issued the “Hebei Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau’s Announcement on Public Comments on the Centralized Procurement of Medical Consumables”. The proposed procurement categories include oropharyngeal airways, disposable Papillotomy, endotracheal intubation, disposable nasobiliary drainage tube, etc.
Although the unit price of low-value consumables is low, the frequency of use is high and the market demand is large.
“Although the unit price of low-value consumables is low, the consumption may be large and the potential The expenditure is also large.” On August 4, Chen Hongyan, Secretary General of the Medical Supplies Branch of China International Travel and Health Care Association, told the People’s Daily Health Client reporter that some of the products in the centralized procurement of medical consumables were clinically required. The number of hospitals and patients covered is large and requires a lot of use. The high-value medical consumables collected in previous years are also in great demand.
Taking blood sugar test strips as an example, the reporter checked various hospitals and merchant platforms and found that the average price of one piece is about 1-3 yuan. According to the data of the International Diabetes Federation, by the end of 2021, the number of diabetic patients in my country has exceeded 140 million. According to the “Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in China (2017 Edition)”, “blood glucose monitoring” is specifically mentioned. The data shows that the global market capacity of blood glucose monitoring systems has reached more than 20 billion US dollars, and the market size of my country’s blood glucose monitoring systems is about 6 billion yuan. According to the sales revenue ratio of blood glucose meters and blood glucose test strips of 1:4, the sales of blood glucose test strips are about 4.8 billion yuan.
In addition, an industry expert related to the centralized procurement of medical devices told the People’s Daily health client reporter: “Compared with enterprises that produce high-value consumables, domestic enterprises that produce low-value medical consumables are relatively Small, product quality and management also need to be further standardized. The centralized procurement of low-value consumables within the enterprise may achieve a certain standardization effect, which will also bring certain changes to the future development of the low-value consumables industry.”
Sanming Procurement Alliance’s centralized procurement cycle of medical consumables is 2 years, calculated from the actual implementation date of the results of the alliance’s various regions. During the procurement cycle, the procurement volume of selected products of each participating medical institution shall not be less than 70% of the total procurement volume of similar varieties. In terms of time arrangement, the basic data maintenance of participating companies and products will be started on August 2, and the selection results will be announced on August 26.