Environmental Scan 2017: Human Capital Issues within the Medical Devices Sector
B. Medical Devices Industry in Malaysia
Industry Overview
In the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (RMK11), 2016 – 2020, the Medical Devices sector (MedDev)
has been categorized as one of the key industries with high potential growth. The sector is
expected to move towards generating more high-value, diverse and complex products.
The market size of MedDev in Malaysia has seen positive growth over the years. This is mainly
driven by rapid technological advancement, increasing life expectancy and a booming private
healthcare sector. The market is expected to continue to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% from 2015
to 2020. 1
Malaysia also continues to evolve as a manufacturing hub for medical devices, with a big
majority of the medical devices manufactured in the country are meant for exports. The
exports of medical devices from Malaysia increased by 33% from RM 11.9 billion in 2013 to
RM 15.8 billion in 2016 2 . Not only has the exports grown in terms of volume but also in terms
of sophistication of the type of medical devices exported. The key export destinations for
Malaysian medical devices include the US (26%), Germany (11%), Belgium (10%), Japan (7%)
and Singapore (6%) 3 . (See Appendix 2.2.1 for further information)
The medical devices industry in Malaysia comprises of 230 manufacturers and can be
categorised into five sub-sectors, namely:
i)
Medical consumables
ii) Diagnostic imaging
iii) Orthopaedics and prosthetics
iv)
Patient aids
v)
Other medical devices
72% of the companies are manufacturers of medical consumables, where 29% of them are
surgical / medical gloves manufacturers and another 43% produce other medical
consumables, e.g. sutures, syringes, needles, catheters, sheath contraceptives etc.
Orthopaedics and prosthetics manufacturers make up 7% of the industry, diagnostic imaging
companies 3%, patient aids companies 2% and manufacturers of other medical devices 16%. 4
1 BMI, Ipsos analysis
2 MATRADE
3 Calculation based on MATRADE’s data
4 Ipsos analysis, based on main business activity
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