What Medical Technology exactly is
Medical technology can be considered as any technology used to save lives in individuals suffering from a wide range of conditions. In its many forms, medical technology is already diagnosing, monitoring and treating virtually every disease or condition that affects us. Medical technology can be familiar, everyday objects such as sticking plasters, syringes or latex gloves. Alternatively, it could also be spectacles, wheelchairs and hearing aids. Meanwhile, at the high tech end of the scale, medical technology includes total body scanners, implantable devices such as heart valves and pacemakers, and replacement joints for knees and hips. In fact, there are around 500,000 medical technologies currently available and they all share a common purpose: improving and extending peoples’ lives.
The common thread through all applications of medical technology is the beneficial impact on health and quality of life. They all contribute to living longer, better and empowering citizens to contribute to society for longer. In so doing, they improve the quality of care, and the efficacy and sustainability of healthcare systems. In Europe, medical technology is also a major contributor to the EU economy, employing over 500,000 people in high quality jobs and generating sales revenue of over €95 billion per year.
How is medical technology defined?
The best way to describe Medical technology, and more specifically medical devices, is to use the definition of the European Commission in their ‘EU Medical Devices Directive’.
This Directive states that a medical device is: "Any instrument, apparatus, appliance, software, material or other article, whether used alone or in combination, including the software intended by its manufacturer to be used specifically for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes and necessary for its proper application, intended by the manufacturer to be used for human beings.”
"Devices are to be used for the purpose of:
- Diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease
- Diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, alleviation of or compensation for an injury or handicap
- Investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological process
- Control of conception
This includes devices that do not achieve its principal intended action in or on the human body by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means, but which may be assisted in its function by such means.”
However, this does not really provide a perspective on how wide a range medical technology encompasses. There are 500,000 technologies, in 10,000 generic groups. These fall within 12 categories of products, as determined by the Global Medical Devices Nomenclature (GMDN) Agency.
- Code
- Classification
- Example
- 01
- Active implantable technology
- Cardiac pacemakers, neurostimulators
- 02
- Anaesthetic and respiratory technology
- Oxygen mask, gas delivery unit, anaesthesia breathing circuit
- 03
- Dental technology
- Dentistry tools, alloys, resins, floss, brushes
- 04
- Electromechanical medical technology
- X-ray machine, laser, scanner
- 05
- Hospital hardware
- Hospital bed
- 06
- In vitro diagnostic technology
- Pregnancy test, genetic test, glucose strip
- 07
- Non-active implantable technology
- Hip or knee joint replacement, cardiac stent
- 08
- Ophthalmic and optical technology
- Spectacles, contact lenses, intraocular lenses, ophthalmoscope
- 09
- Reusable instruments
- Surgical instruments, rigid endoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, skin electrodes
- 10
- Single use technology
- Syringes, needles, latex gloves, balloon catheters
- 11
- Technical aids for disabled
- Wheelchairs, walking frames, hearing aids
- 12
- Diagnostic and therapeutic radiation technology
- Radiotherapy units
Medical Technology – key facts and figures
Life expectancy in EU countries is improving steadily. On average, life expectancy at birth for the three-year period 2005-07 stood at 74.3 years for men and 80.8 years for women, an increase of six years since 19801. At the same time, healthcare expenditure has also risen. In the same period, EU countries spent, on average, 8.3% of their GDP on health, up from 7.3% in 1998, albeit with variations between individual countries2.
Yet despite the increasing proportion of GDP allocated to healthcare, medical technology uses only 4.2% of total healthcare expenditure and its piece of the pie has not increased significantly over the last years.
Medical technology is a key driver for Europe’s economic well-being, providing quality employment, and a substantial contribution to Europe’s balance of trade.
- The industry employs nearly 500.000 people
- It generates annual sales of €95 billion3
- Of that €95 billion, 8% is ploughed back into research and development each year equivalent to around €7.5 billion
- There are almost 22,500 medical technology companies in Europe; of these nearly 18,000 – around 80% - are small to medium-sized or even micro4 -enterprises
1 OECD “Health at a Glance: Europe 2010”
2 OECD “Health at a Glance: Europe 2010”
3 Eucomed data supplied
4 Definition from European Commission