16-Oct-15 Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has narrowly averted a specialist doctor manpower crisis by raising their retirement age from 60 to 65. Under a scheme costing HKD570 mn (USD74 mn), 60 out of 100 doctors who were to retire this year will continue their service. Serving 90% of patients with only 40% of doctors, Hong Kong's public hospitals are chronically understaffed. [image: SCMP]

15-Oct-15 Japan's drug regulator, the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), is set to open an India office soon. The move is expected to help Indian generic drug manufacturers, which have been seeking to increase their presence in Japan either through exports or by forging joint ventures with partners in that country. [image: The Economic Times]

08-Oct-15 China will spend RMB9.8 bn (USD1.54 bn) to subsidise public hospital reform in 2016, the Ministry of Finance said. China's healthcare reform drive is facing a number of obstacles, including a perceived lack of support from central government and challenges of private firms working within the huge, fragmented public sector. [image: AFP / Ed Jones]

05-Oct-15 India plans to set up two medical devices parks to facilitate the sector's growth, which is currently at a nascent stage. The government has identified 400 acres near Chennai and 100 acres at Hyderabad for the parks. The domestic market is worth $6.8 bn, but only one-third is locally manufactured. India also exports $1 billion of medical devices. [image: Business Standard]

16-Sep-15 Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world, wants to lead the way in developing a simpler halal certification pathway for pharmaceutical and biomedical products. Some observers worry, however, that laws that completely marry the needs of Muslim Sharia Law and traditional drug certification pathways may prove impossible. [image: Halal Certified Medicine]