11-Dec-15 Singapore will seek to improve healthcare accessibility for patients, and promote innovation in medical technology, the Minister for Trade and Industry has said. To boost healthcare accessibility, he said the healthcare workforce has to grow by 50% by 2020. Singapore will also add at least 1,700 acute beds and double the number of community hospital beds to 3,000. [image: APACMed]

08-Dec-15 China's implementation of healthcare reforms, changing the approval process for new medical devices and favoring local manufacturers will restrain growth for US medical manufacturers, says Moody's. China's healthcare reforms will be particularly credit negative for companies that make complex devices, such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific and St Jude. [image: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters]

07-Dec-15 The Chinese medical device market is maturing rapidly, and with it, so is its regulatory presence. Top trends on the horizon for 2016: A move toward localization; research use only loophole closing; imported refurbished products will be a no-no; local bidding for local products; more inspection on the way. [image: MD+DI]

27-Nov-15 Medical equipment consumption in Brazil was down by 4.4% year on year in the first nine months of 2015, according to the Brazilian health innovation companies alliance Abiis. Domestic production increased 5.1% while imports decreased to 9.2% as the USD exchange rate affected the affordability of imports. [image: MD&M Brazil]

11-Nov-15 Singapore's first national platform for research imaging in diseases such as dengue and tuberculosis has been opened. It is part of the Government's efforts to boost investment in health and biomedical sciences. The centre will be the first in Southeast Asia to use latest technologies like the MR/PET scanner. [image: Clinical Imaging Research Centre]