Mobility is certainly not the way to treat every ailment. Hospital beds are needed to address certain ailments and provide the rest needed therein. Monitoring also takes place better while on the hospital bed. Also, technologically advanced features could be incorporated better with hospital beds. The scarcity of hospital beds is felt all the more after the outbreak of Covid-19. Several offbeat actions have been witnessed in this regard. For instance – The Indian Railways, in April 2020, did convert 20,000 old train carriages into various isolation wards. On the other hand, Spain, in March 2020, did convert the IFEMA conference centre (240,000 square meters) into a 5,500-bed hospital, inclusive of ICU beds for treating Covid +ve patients.
Less critical patients are being helped by Carnival Cruise Lines, who did convert its unused ships into 1000 hospital rooms. This initiative was taken in March 2020, Later, New York-based 1.8m Javits Convention Center was converted into 1,000-bed hospital for handling Covid-19 patients.
With hospital beds comes increase in demand for operating tables as well. Various surgical procedures pertaining to gynecology, cardiovascular ailments could be performed effectively with proper operating tables. There are also ENT and neurological surgeries to perform. These days, operating rooms come with several imaging modalities like C-arms, CT scanners, and MRI. This, in turn, results in an excessive demand for imaging tables having radiolucent table-tops.
When it’s surgery, its disposable blood bag as well. As it constitutes multiple bags that are interconnected through clamps, tubes, needles, and needle cover, it acts as an ideal source for blood preservation and also components of blood for transfusion needed in future.
Secure messaging in healthcare has turned out to be mandatory with wearable devices making inroads to the healthcare industry. Secure messaging is likely to instil a higher level of confidence amongst the healthcare vendors as they would be rest assured about secure real-time monitoring. Both – voice communication and text messaging are possible through secure messaging.
The demand for elder care services has been increasing at a substantial rate since the last few years. This could be attributed to the blatant fact that “graying” has been picking up pace all across the US and UK. The UN has already stated that more than 32% of the global population would be aged 60 and above by the year 2022. BY type of service, the elder care services market spans community-based care, home-based care, and institutional care. By financing source, it’s out-of-pocket spending, private source, and public expenditure.
With all this, comes the diet that needs to be taken care of. Medical foods are the need of the hour, especially for those suffering from chronic ailments and also the geriatric population as the digestive system doesn’t remain the same as it was prior to crossing 60 years of age. Medical foods could be provided in the form of powder, pills, and others. By the route of administration, they could be enteral and oral. Application-wise, they are ADHD, pathogen related infections, minimal hepatic encephalopathy, chronic kidney disease, diabetic neuropathy, depression, Alzheimer ’s disease, nutritional deficiency, FRIES, eosinophilic esophagitis, phenylketonuria, and others.
Coming to affable and affordable medications, telemedicine is being adopted all across. As such, the new-fangled healthcare models are revolving around expansion in terms of behavioural health, cardiology, radiology, and e-visits. Along these lines, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), in March 2020, did come up with telemedicine practice guidelines all across India. Also, InTouch Health, in April 2019, did announce launching Solo. It comes across as an end-to-end 100% integrated virtual care platform.
Amongst the growth factors, there are TGF (Transforming Growth Factor), which further contains activin, BMPs (Bone Morphogenetic Proteins), and TGF-beta Proteins. The other growth factors are EGFs (Epidermal Growth Factors), PDGFs (Platelet-Derived Growth Factors), FGFs (Fibroblast Growth Factors), VEGFs (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors), IGFs (Insulin-like Growth Factors), HGFs (Hepatocyte Growth Factors), Interleukins, and others. Application-wise, it’s wound healing, dermatology, cardiovascular disease & diabetes, oncology, hematology, cell culture, and others.
Coming to post-operative pain management, the drug class includes local anaesthetics, NSAIDS, opioids, and acetaminophen. By route of administration, it could be injectable, oral, topical, transdermal, and others. Home care services could be healthcare services, nursing services, and maid services. These services could be availed on daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
Persistence Market Research (PMR) has profiled key players related to hospital beds and other facilities as follows:
- Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.
- LINET Group SE
- Paramount Bed Holdings, Inc.
- Stryker Corporation
- Getinge AB
- Invacare Corporation
- Medline Industries, Inc.
- MeMD
- Encounter Telehealth
- Global Med
- Teladoc Health Inc.
- American Well
- Nestle Nutrition
- Danone
- Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc.
- Mead Johnson & Company, LLC
In a nutshell, the fact that medical facilities, in entirety, will witness a double-digit growth, can’t be ignored.
Editor-in-Chief since 2011.