CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 4 , No. 12 - July 17, 2003
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Chinese doctors nurture in vitro embryonic human
- American Medical Major Prefers China Over India
- Medko Medical To Begin Major Hospital Equipment Project in China
- Hong Kong seeks public views on regulation of medical devices
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Chinese doctors nurture in vitro embryonic human
Chinese doctors have succeeded in nurturing an in vitro embryonic human heart equivalent in size to a grain of rice in culture fluid for 13 days to date in a lab in northeast China. The tiny human heart is still beating on June 19, between 60 and 80 times per second, according to doctors with the procreation center lab of the Shenyang Women and Infants' Hospital in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province. There hasn't been any similar report both at home and abroad so far, doctors said.
Wang Tong, a doctor with the lab, said that the heart's valves had grown well and developed into the shape and structure of an adult heart. The small heart came from a 53-day embryo, the result of an abortion. On June 5, 2003, Wang removed the heart from the embryo and placed it into a culture dish in the procreation lab. Wang said when he arrived at the lab on the morning of June 6, he was so happy to see that the heart was beating strongly, and he observed, with the help of a microscope, that the cells of the heart were breaking up.
Prior to the culturing of this human heart, the research of this type carried out in China was on Poecilia Reticulata, a kind of fish, and on mice, according to scientific documents provided by the Liaoning Provincial Science and Technology Information Research Institute. Significantly, there is no record of the survival of in vitro human hearts in embryonic form in labs in the world so far, according to the research institute.
Wang said that his lab has been conducting research on protogonocyte in the genital ridge, hoping to obtain stem cells to clone human body organs and parts such as the lung, liver, eye, hand and stomach. Through this research, he hopes that it will some day be much easier for doctors to treat patients, just as they would repair a motor vehicle - by simply replacing a part, Wang said.
(Source: Xinhua News)
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American Medical Major Prefers China Over India
The US-based $3 billion medical equipment major, Stryker Corporation has preferred China over India when it came to setting up a manufacturing base. The Indian subsidiary - Stryker India-- will, however, source all its orthopaedic equipment requirements from the Chinese subsidiary, which is expected to be operational in the next 3-4 months. At present, most of the requirement for Indian market is being met from Stryker's European subsidiaries.
"China was given the preference as India does not offer the economies of scale and the Chinese market for orthopaedic equipment is almost thrice than that of India," Vikram Singh, chief operating and financial controller told FE. Apart from better control over operation, Stryker believes that China offers better regulatory regime and that is the reason many multinational corporations (MNCs) prefer China over India. The sourcing from the Chinese subsidiary would bring down the cost of equipment in India, which we intended to pass on to the customer, he added.
(Source: Financial Express)
Medko Medical To Begin Major Hospital Equipment Project in China
Medko Medical has concluded a contract to provide medical equipment to the Health Bureaus of three Chinese provinces. Deliveries of equipment to a total of thirteen municipal hospitals operating under local Health Bureaus will begin in early autumn. This equipment will replace and complement already existing equipment in the hospitals.
The hospitals are located in the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi, and in Fuzhou, the capital of the Fujian province. The third location is the new annex to the Zhangshu city hospital in the province of Jiangxi. Over 105 million people live in these provinces, and through modern operating theatre and diagnostic equipment, the Health Bureaus are seeking to raise the level of healthcare, reduce mortality, and shorten stays in hospital. The projects have been valued at around USD7.4 million, the deliveries including Datex-Ohmeda anaesthesia equipment and monitors, Instrumentarium Imaging x-ray equipment and Ohmeda Medical infant care products, as well as Merivaara furniture, and products by some other Finnish manufacturers.
The equipment deliveries will commence in the autumn of 2003. In China, Western and local Tradional Chinese Medicine (TCM) operate side by side. However, western, technologically oriented medicine is gradually gaining ground. The hospitals involved in the Medko Medical projects utilize both traditional chinese and western medicine, and include regional central hospitals and a tuberculosis hospital.
(Source: Financial Times Information)
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The Department of Health of Hong Kong (DH) recently released a public consultation paper concerning the proposed regulatory framework on medical devices in Hong Kong. "The consultation paper set out the proposed regulation on the manufacture, import, sale and use of medical devices with an aim to safeguard the health and safety of the public," the Deputy Director of Health, P Y Lam, said at a press conference. "We welcome views and comments from the public, medical device trade and industry, health care professionals, beauty parlor operators and interested bodies. In addition, public forums will be held to gauge opinion on the paper," Lam added.
Following the recommendation of the Consultation Document on Health Care Reform released in 2000, DH and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department conducted a comprehensive review of the present statutory regulations on the use of medical devices. Regulatory practices overseas were also studied.
He said that certain problems relating to medical devices in Hong Kong are identified. Firstly, there is no pre-market control to assess the safety, effectiveness and quality of medical devices to safeguard public health. Secondly, there is also an absence of specific control on the use of selected medical devices by non-medical professionals to ensure the safety of consumers. Thirdly, there is no formal adverse incident reporting and proactive surveillance system.
Lam believed that the review indicated that there is inadequate product information for the public and operators to make informed choices on the safe use of medical devices. In view of such deficiencies, a regulatory system to control the sale and use of medical device in Hong Kong is necessary to safeguard the health and safety of the public.
To institute different levels of control, it is proposed that medical devices should be classified into four classes, depending on the risks associated with the device. The paper also proposed to limit the use and operation of certain high-risk medical devices to specified personnel.
The consultation period will last until September 30, 2003.
