The current economic downturn has contributed to a significant shift in the Healthcare industry, but not for Malaysia.
Nitin Naik, Vice President of the Healthcare, Asia Pacific says that the total Healthcare Expenditure grew at 13.70% CAGR from 2003 to 2008, which stood at US$ 7.6 billion in 2008 (up from US$ 4 billion in 2003). Healthcare expenditure in Malaysia is increasing driven by increased privatization within the healthcare service provision and upgrading of existing healthcare infrastructure within the public sector. The market for healthcare services has also received positive impetus from the growing promotion of health tourism and development activities.
"In particular the Diagnostics market in Malaysia stands at CAGR of 10.5% with expenditure allocations of USD45mil if judged against the other neighborhood country such as Singapore, with CAGR of 5.5% and expenditure allocations of USD24mil," he further comments.
Three of the segments that make up over 60% of the total diagnostics market are Immuno-Chemistry, Clinical Chemistry and Self Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG). The growing demand of SMBG devices is due to the increasing ageing population in many Asian countries and prevalence of diabetes. Most of the segments are expected to grow fairly due to emerging focus on preventative medicines in Asia.