On December 28, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission jointly held a working meeting of the Leading Group on Promoting the Development and Application of Medical Equipment in Beijing to thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important exposition on building a manufacturing power and a healthy China, implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on the high-quality development of the medical equipment industry, summarize work, exchange experiences, and study and deploy key tasks for the next stage. Xin Guobin, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Yu Xuejun, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the National Health Commission, and Xu Jinghe, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the State Food and Drug Administration attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Gao Dongsheng, Chief Economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, presided over the meeting.
The meeting pointed out that medical equipment is an important foundation for health care and an important component of advanced manufacturing. It is related to the implementation of the strategy of manufacturing a strong country and a healthy China, and is related to the life safety and health of the people. Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission, the State Food and Drug Administration and other departments have strengthened coordination, coordinated resources from all parties, and achieved remarkable results in promoting the development and application of medical equipment. The scale of the industry has grown rapidly. A number of high-end medical equipment such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines (ECMO) and endoscopic surgical robots have been successfully developed and put into clinical application. New models and new business formats such as telemedicine and smart medicine have developed rapidly. Development and application results have benefited more people. Emergency support capabilities have been significantly enhanced, and the resilience and safety level of the industrial chain have been further improved.
The meeting emphasized that we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, conscientiously implement the deployment requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference and the National Conference on Promotion of New Industrialization, and solidly promote the high-quality development of medical equipment. It is necessary to continue to strengthen top-level design, improve medical device regulations and standards, strengthen departmental policy coordination, and improve institutional and mechanism guarantees. It is necessary to strengthen research on key core technologies, focus on cutting-edge leadership and shortcomings, innovate organizational implementation methods, and promote breakthroughs in the entire product chain. It is necessary to deepen all-round collaboration between medicine and industry, and encourage “industry, academia, and medicine” to carry out multi-level and multi-dimensional innovative cooperation in product research and development, engineering industrialization, and cross-medical and engineering talent training. It is necessary to strengthen the coherence of the entire policy process and continue to make efforts in product registration and approval, pilot test verification, promotion and application, and enterprise cultivation to form a policy synergy that supports the innovative development and application of medical equipment. It is necessary to carry out extensive demonstration applications, support medical institutions and manufacturing enterprises to jointly create high-end medical equipment application demonstration bases, and promote product iterative upgrades. It is necessary to strengthen the publicity and promotion of experience, actively build an exchange platform for medical enterprises, transform local experience into general consensus, and jointly promote the “going out” of excellent medical equipment.
The meeting required that overall planning and coordination should be strengthened to form a policy synergy of departmental coordination and central and local linkage. It is necessary to strengthen service guarantees, unblock channels for problem reporting, strengthen business and technical guidance throughout the entire chain of medical equipment innovation, and promptly help enterprises solve problems. It is necessary to strengthen tracking and inquiry, regularly summarize work results and experiences, and supervise the implementation of relevant policies and measures.
Focus on half the sky: The meeting emphasized the need to continue to strengthen top-level design, improve medical device regulations and standards, strengthen departmental policy coordination, and improve institutional and mechanism guarantees. It is necessary to strengthen research on key core technologies, focus on cutting-edge leadership and shortcomings, innovate organizational implementation methods, and promote breakthroughs in the entire product chain.