China's Medical Textiles Need To Be Improved

China Spin Du Yuzhou, President of the industrial association, pointed out that industrial textiles are the new growth pole of China's textile industry. Medical and sanitary textiles are an important category of industrial textiles, and are one of the important signs to measure the level of textile industry.

In twenty-first Century, the medical and sanitary textiles industry entered a period of rapid growth, and the scale of industry continued to expand, and technological progress was developing rapidly. At the same time, along with the deepening of industrialization, information technology, urbanization, marketization and internationalization, medical and sanitary textiles are playing an increasingly important role in meeting people's growing physical health needs.

However, China's medical treatment and Hygiene The development of textiles is affected by factors such as late start, small scale of enterprises, low concentration of industries, lack of original core technology, and backward standards, which results in the lack of core competitiveness of the industry.

The implementation of the textile industry readjustment and revitalization plan, following the "outline of scientific and technological progress" of the textile industry in 12th Five-Year, is a topic for industrial development and social concern.

Broad prospects for the road

Medical and sanitary textiles mainly refer to medical, protective, health and hygienic textiles. There are more than 200 kinds of products, of which 10% are high performance medical textiles. Medical and health textiles are based on fiber and fabric, and are characterized by medical applications. They are multi-functional, composite, high safety, comfortable and environment-friendly textile products. They generally include two categories: medical textiles and sanitary textiles.

Medical textiles need to be improved

Domestic medical and health textiles are mainly concentrated in medical protective textiles and health care products, while biomedical materials have been underdeveloped due to technology and other reasons. According to the statistical data analysis of medical equipment quality supervision and inspection center of China National Institute of pharmaceutical and biological products, most of the products of medical textiles used in surgical implants and in vitro filtration textiles, especially artificial organ medical devices, are basically dependent on imports. The localization rate of products is very low, and the market is occupied by foreign enterprises, and the annual import volume exceeds 6 billion US dollars.

The key technology of high tech conventional medical textile materials in China is basically controlled by foreign businessmen. Over 80% of high technology products rely on imports. At the same time, the phenomenon of foreign investment in industry is serious, and the contribution of foreign enterprises to total industry sales exceeds 50%. At present, there are about 120 enterprises with sales of more than 100 million yuan, of which more than half of Sino foreign joint ventures.

Biomedical materials enterprises in China are gaining momentum and strength. According to Zhang Yan, Deputy Secretary General of China Industrial Textiles Association, there are about 2400 biomedical materials enterprises in China, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, with small scale, low industrial concentration and weak market competitiveness. In 2005, for example, the annual sales volume of domestic enterprises is higher than 100 million yuan, with only 30. The average annual sales of Chinese enterprises are only $1 million 200 thousand, which is lower than the average sales of American enterprises by 14%.

At present, our country nonwovens The use rate of disposable protective textiles is low. The 60%~70% of American nonwovens is used for medical and sanitary supplies and daily necessities. 75% of the medical textiles used in Western Europe are nonwovens, and 30% of them are disposable products, while the utilization rate in the country is less than 10%. Hospitals in China mainly purchase non disposable products, and disposable products are also limited to conventional products such as masks and hats. The use of disposable isolation gowns and surgical gowns and disposable protective clothing is very low.

In terms of sanitary textiles, China's disposable hygiene products market is developing more rapidly. While realizing self sufficiency, net exports are increasing year by year. According to statistics from relevant agencies, the sales of disposable sanitary products in China in 2005 amounted to about 15 billion 900 million yuan, including 11 billion 500 million yuan for women's sanitary napkins, 3 billion 800 million yuan for baby diapers, and 600 million yuan for adult incontinence diapers. However, it should be noted that the export of sanitary textiles in the mainland of China is mainly through the transfer of multinational companies or Hongkong and Taiwan enterprises, and then obtain the export after the relevant product certification. In terms of women's hygiene products and baby diapers, the domestic market penetration is still insufficient. Market penetration of women's health products in developed countries has reached 90%, while China's market penetration is only around 67.5%, slightly higher than 57% of the world average market penetration. The market penetration of baby diapers is 95% in Japan, 96% in North America, 44.1% in the world, and 17.3% in the market for baby diapers in China.

Many factors restrict industry development

The importance of textile science and technology in bioengineering has not been fully appreciated. Biomedical materials are one of the four pillars of biomedical engineering. However, textile science and technology in biomedical materials processing have not received sufficient attention in medical research and application fields for many years. For example, hollow fiber membrane materials, electrospinning nanofibers, nonwoven materials and other new textile materials have made great progress in the past ten years. However, due to the lack of effective convergence in the field of materials and applications, new technologies have not been applied in the field of biomedical materials in a timely manner, and at the same time, there is no development of new textile materials.

Brand awareness is weak. Most of the high-end market of medical and sanitary textiles in China are occupied by developed countries. Many advanced domestic enterprises have become international brand suppliers, while more small and medium-sized enterprises have been fighting price wars in the narrow middle and low end markets. Zhang Yan said: "there is a lack of an independent and complete industrial chain from the production of fiber materials to nonwoven products in China, which also affects the establishment and growth of high-grade national brands."

Lack of guidance and guarantee mechanism for policies and regulations. The market access threshold of medical textiles is too high, and the approval cycle of medical device products is too long, which also affects the domestic enterprises' enthusiasm for investment in the medical textiles industry. At the same time, the regulations on medical occupational protection are not clear, and the personal protection mechanism is not perfect, which also has a great impact on China's medical protective textiles. Zhang Yan said that although the Ministry of Health issued a number of laws and regulations, in addition to the provisions of the protection guidelines for occupational exposure of avian flu, the quality, wear out order and wear requirements of protective articles were not stipulated. Other regulations did not specify specific requirements for the performance and use of protective equipment for medical personnel, nor did they require the standardization of medical protective textiles.

The cost of circulation is too high. The distribution channels of domestic medical textiles are complex, and the cost of excellent products is expensive. The export of high-grade medical surgical gowns and masks and other products exported to China has been returned to the domestic market at a high price after being recognized and packaged by foreign authoritative inspection organizations. The circulation links increase the cost of the end-users at a multiple price, and inhibit the promotion of high-performance products in domestic hospitals.

In addition, the lag of standard and standard formulation and the weakness of public innovation service platform directly affect the rapid development of domestic medical and sanitary textiles industry. China Industrial Textiles Association Li Yanli said.

Strengthening policy support to break through development resistance

We should strengthen government support and establish a long-term mechanism for scientific and technological progress. Biomedical materials, from scientific research to production, have a long cycle, large investment and slow results, which are opposite to enterprises' pursuit of short-term profit objectives. The relevant government departments should focus on scientific research projects and investment guidance, focus on related fields of medical protective products, and create a research platform that combines research and development of medical and health textiles with clinical assessment, and guide enterprises to establish medium and long-term plans, so as to maximize the social and economic benefits of scientific research achievements. The government should intensify efforts to establish an exemplary "industry, University, research and use" bio material technology innovation industry chain, and set up a number of national engineering and technology research centers, engineering laboratories and key laboratories to provide technical support for enterprises, vigorously develop enterprise technology innovation centers, and enhance the technological innovation capability of enterprises.

We should strengthen departmental coordination and cohesion, set up coordination and overall planning mechanism of all relevant departments of the state, and establish a healthy operation mechanism for the development, production, circulation, use and management of national medical protective products. In the field of medical and sanitary textile industry, the production and market licensing of medical textiles need to be approved by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). The manufacturers also need to meet a number of national and industry standards such as GMP, ISO, etc. In terms of product standards, usage specifications, R & D and production applications, a multi department coordination mechanism is needed to enhance communication.

Establish quality assurance and distribution system, reduce the cost pressure of circulation. According to China's national conditions, we set up a product standard system, set up different grading indicators for the performance of main products, and put forward suggestions on the scope of use, so as to guide clinical medical staff to correctly use protective products that meet the standard requirements. Guide enterprises to carry out scientific and technological development, organize production and procurement according to corresponding standards, and promote a virtuous cycle of research, production, marketing and use.