Health-related experts suggested at a public hearing on Tuesday that medical institutions should be obliged to use domestic medical devices. The National Assembly Health & Welfare Committee held the event to gather opinions about legislation on nurturing and supporting the medical devices industry.

Yonsei University professor Yoon Young-ro_윤영로 said a mandatory use of domestic medical devices in the local medical institutions should be considered, in response to Rep. Yoon So-Ha of the progressive Justice Party, who stated that small businesses cannot receive support from the legislation alone.

“A domestic defibrillator maker has grown with the compulsory installation of the device under the law," he said. "So, we should think about how to enact a mandatory use of domestic medical devices in medical institutions.”

Yoon said there were only about 10 companies that can be regarded as innovative medical device makers among all of the medical devices manufacturers.

Rep. Kwon Mi-Hyuk_권미혁 of the ruling Minjoo Party of Korea mentioned about the problem of health care benefits in support for only innovative medical device manufacturers specified in the Promotion of Medical Devices Act. The Article 20 of the Medical Devices Development Act states that the medical device manufacturer may receive favor when deciding whether a medical device is eligible for health care benefits.

“If there are too many domestic companies that are classified as innovative medical device manufacturers, this could be a violation of the US Free Trade Agreement. On the other hand, if there are too many multinational and transnational companies regarded as innovative medical device manufacturers, it can spark the controversy of draining national wealth,” Kwon said.

Yang Sung-il_양성일, director-general of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said it is the National Assembly that establish a law, so the government is considering various articles in accordance.

“We can’t be in favor of neither domestic nor foreign companies. The Special Act on Fostering and Support of Pharmaceutical Industry has a separate provision for selecting foreign firms when designating innovative medical device manufacturers. So, we will look into separate clauses such as R&D ratios when reviewing the bill for the promotion of medical devices,” he said.

Meanwhile, a bill on Promotion of Medical Equipment Development proposed by Rep. Kim Ki-sun of the Liberty Korea in July aims to come up with a comprehensive plan for developing medical devices industry, give certificates to innovative medical device makers and support medical research and development of medical devices.

In particular, for the selected “innovative medical device manufacturers,” it aims special treatments such as tax breaks and incentives for health insurance benefits.

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