Abstract
New Zealand has a well-developed health infrastructure, and facilities are of
a generally high standard. This report is ideal for executives wanting to
understand the key drivers in the medical market and have access to a wealth
of statistical data, including five-year market projections. Included with the
report are 3 free quarterly updated outlook reports, enabling you to keep up
to date with market developments for a year.
Includes 3 quarterly updated outlook reports!
With a population of just over four million, New Zealand is a small but highly
developed medical equipment market in the south Pacific. Much of the
population is concentrated in the major urban areas of Auckland, Christchurch
and the capital, Wellington. The country has a well-developed health
infrastructure, and facilities are of a generally high standard. Since the
early 1980s, the healthcare system in New Zealand has been the target of
numerous economic reforms. Historically, healthcare provision has been almost
entirely public, but radical changes implemented by the National Party
government in 1993 introduced elements of competition and private enterprise
into the healthcare sector, with limited success.
The past decade has seen a series of reforms aimed at improving efficiency.
Market-inspired reforms of the hospital sector in the 1990s did not lead to
any widely-perceived improvements, but did create a major debt problem for the
public sector. The current government has reversed much of these reforms
through the creation of District Health Boards.
There is very little domestic production of medical equipment. The one major
player, Fisher & Paykel, operates in a few niche areas and anyway tends to
concentrate on export markets. The domestic market is heavily reliant on
imports, therefore. The USA and Australia are the major sources of imports.
The best access to the market is through the appointment of a local agent.
Around three quarters of New Zealand' s medical supplies are purchased by the
MoH, while private hospitals and individual surgeons account for the
remainder. For advanced products, the private sector becomes much more
significant.
New Zealand is due to create a merged regulatory system for devices and drugs
in 2007, through the merger of Medsafe with the Australian Therapeutic Goods
Agency. This should bring New Zealand more into line with international norms,
potentially saving time and money for local manufacturers and importers.
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