“While the private health sector shares a significant burden including diagnosis and specialized surgeries, it predominantly serves the better-offs. Public hospitals continue to be the lifeline for majority of the lower middle-income population…”
Overview: Medical Devices Market in Egypt
Valued at $900Mn in 2016, the Egyptian medical devices market is being driven by opportunities through PPPs and cost-effective technologies in private sector. Although 95% Egyptians stay within 5km of a health facility, access to and utilization of health facilities is not equitable. Specific opportunities include:
- Utilization of ICT to improve radiology utilization
- Increased momentum around tele-cardiology
- MoH’s proposed plans to reduce neonatal mortality by 2018
Our Client: A major innovator of radiology, cardiology and surgical products as well as healthcare IT solutions globally.
Challenge Statement: Our client was looking to understand the feasibility of launching low-cost medical devices in Egypt while also understanding the need for sophisticated high-end equipment. The sales strategy was to be devised based on the overall heat-map of current need-gaps, disease burden, capacity and skills as well as competitive landscape.
Research Design: The first step in understanding the addressable market was to create an in-depth segmentation of healthcare delivery facilities in the country. A detailed list of all hospitals in the country including primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals was created. EMeRG conducted a deep dive into the installed base of medical devices across various hospital types utilizing various data sources including social media research. The various hospital departments and specialties were mapped at a hospital level to understand the current addressable market and the penetration of medical technologies in about 20% of all Egyptian hospitals.
Research Methodology: Secondary research utilizing regional sources of information was employed to understand the healthcare delivery structure in public and private facilities while assessing the distribution by tiers of care delivery. The public healthcare facilities in Egypt included family health units, health centres, motherhood and childhood care centres, district level clinics, obstetrics and pediatric hospitals, general and central hospitals as well as teaching hospitals.
Using regional registries and various data sources from Ministry of Health (among others), the disease burden across key geographies including Alexandria, Asuit, Cairo, Giza, Minya, Sohag and Qena (among others) was mapped.
A detailed list of the key med-tech OEMs as well as their corresponding distributors was created. The geographical footprint of individual channel partners was assessed. In addition, analysis of public tenders was conducted to understand the uptake of various equipment including diagnostic imaging scanners, ECG, patient monitors, ventilators, anesthesia machines (among others).
Primary research was conducted with key influencers of purchase decisions across all major care areas including Radiology, Cardiology, Oncology, Surgery and Critical care. Department heads for individual specialties were interviewed across all major hospital types in the country, spread across large metropolitan cities as well as smaller towns for primary care centres.
Research Outcome: EMeRG’s research revealed significant need-gaps across various care areas in both public and private hospitals. With the private sector accounting for about 16% of total inpatient beds, its overall contribution to healthcare delivery is on the rise. However, affordability concerns translate into higher utilization of public hospitals, thus presenting opportunities for PPPs across various specialties. EMeRG utilized a detailed market opportunity model incorporating TAM/SAM while mapping it with current disease burden, availability of skilled workforce (among others) across major regions in Egypt. The findings helped internalize a detailed sales strategy while utilizing direct sales and channel partners across regions and customer segments identified in the heat map.
