The Philippine healthcare industry is expected to become a P1.5-trillion industry by 2025, according to the latest report of Ken Research Private Limited (“Ken Research”), an independent market research firm. This industry, which is composed of pharmaceuticals, health insurance premiums, hospital services, medical devices, and vitamins and dietary supplements, is growing, with the medical devices market as one of its drivers.

According to the same report, the Philippine medical devices market registered a CAGR of 32.1% during the period of 2015-2020, reaching a value of P77-billion in 2020. It is expected to become a P128-billion market by 2025. Per Ken Research, the market is currently in its growth phase driven by an increase in the number of healthcare facilities, high prevalence of chronic diseases, and expanding elderly population.

Due to the passage of the Universal Healthcare Law, public-private partnerships, and projects under the Department of Health’s Facilities Enhancement Program, which all aim for the expansion and modernization of the country’s public healthcare facilities, have contributed to the demand of more equipment purchases and upgrades.

The rise of diseases such as respiratory infections, diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, and other heart-related problems further drive the country’s demand for medical equipment and consumables to help treat patients.

Among the rising causes of morbidity is kidney failure, with close to 35,000 Filipinos undergoing dialysis treatments as of 2020 and with new cases increasing by about 15% ever year due to risk factors including diabetes and hypertension.

Another rising cause of morbidity is cancer, with around 153,751 new cases and 92,606 deaths reported in the country last 2020.

Moreover, COVID-19 has contributed to a bigger, more urgent demand for both diagnostic and dialysis devices, among others.

Medilines Distributors Incorporated (“Medilines”) is poised to capture the growth in the Philippine healthcare industry and its medical devices market, having been a distributor of medical devices in the Philippines for roughly 20 years. Backed with more than three decades of experience in the industry, Medilines Chairman Virgilio B. Villar said the company has been working extensively with the private and public sector to help boost the modernization of hospitals.

 “We are working to make the many advances in healthcare more attainable to Filipinos. Our equipment is at par with global standards and are reliable in detecting and treating a patient’s cancer, kidney disease, or other ailments,” said Villar.

Founded in 2002, Medilines maintains a portfolio of best-in-class equipment from multinational brands such as Siemens Healthineers (Germany) for diagnostic imaging, B. Braun (Germany) for dialysis, and Varian (USA) for cancer therapy. The company plans to expand their presence and their product portfolio in the near future to help enhance the country’s healthcare system through quality medical devices.

During the pandemic, Medilines provided some of the necessary medical equipment to boost the country’s response to COVID-19 with diagnostic imaging devices such as CT scans and x-rays, which are critical in allowing doctors to determine the extent of COVID-19 infection in patients, and dialysis machines, which help treat kidney failure related to COVID-19.

Based on Ken Research, the diagnostic imaging, dialysis, and cancer therapy device categories are all expected to grow in the upcoming years. The diagnostic imaging device market is expected to grow by 11% in the next 5 years to become a P31-billion market by 2025. The dialysis device category is expected to grow by 16% to reach P14-billion by 2025, while the cancer device category is expected to grow by 19% to reach P3-billion by 2025.

Medilines holds dominant positions in two of its core categories. Among the distributors in these respective categories, Medilines accounted for 90.4% share of the cancer therapy equipment segment, 50.5% share of the dialysis equipment segment, and 18.2% share of the segment for X-ray and CT scans in 2020, according to Ken Research.

“By continuing to leverage on our strong presence in key healthcare institutions and strategic partnerships with market leaders in our focus categories, Medilines is already well-positioned to capture the expected growth of our healthcare market,” Villar said.