Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA

Surgery:
The surgery instrument and supplies sub-sectors represent approximately 17 percent of
the total sector. Recent developments in the non-invasive surgery field could have a
strong impact on everyday hospital practice. These latest advances offer superior
results and also present a significantly reduced risk to patients.
Technical aids:
The French market for medical prosthesis, 8 percent of the total medical equipment
market, is characterized by a strong potential for innovative internal prosthesis such as
knees, hips, ligaments, and elbows, and with a slightly decreasing market for external
prosthesis. Technological evolution, especially in the field of anesthesia, offers the
potential for rapid changes in this market.
Intensive care:
Intensive care equipment such as respiratory monitoring, pumps and incubators
represent about 8 percent of the total medical equipment market. Intensive care
equipment includes the latest technological advances. Both public and private hospitals
show a rising demand for intensive care equipment and supplies.
Hygiene:
The hygiene sub-sector represents approximately 6 percent of the total medical
equipment sector. Patient and medical personnel safety is of growing concern to both
members of the medical profession and the public. Best sales prospects will certainly
focus around assuring stringent personnel safety requirements. This is especially due to
the concern regarding AIDS and other contagious diseases. In the future, prevention
should receive similar emphasis considering the present focus on protection.
Opportunities Return to top
Although the idea of implementing controls on health expenditures is not foreign to
developed countries, the expansion of such alternatives has caused a decline in the
market for hospital-care equipment. This decline has created a demand for a whole new
range of medical equipment that will facilitate fewer and shorter hospital stays. The
need for medical home-care and long-stay hospitalization for the increasing elderly
population will bring new prospects for the American medical equipment market.
Consequently, the demand for medical equipment and products that will assist new
French health care controls will continue to increase.
Resources Return to top
Approval and testing:
G-MED (Groupement pour l'évaluation des dispositifs médicaux)
National agency for the evaluation of medical equipment
Website: [http://rwww.gmed.fr]
2/15/2008 Country Commercial Guide for France 54
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
© 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.