Eastern Europe seeks higher product quality for sterilisation equipment

Published: 12-Jan-2010

The Eastern European market for disinfection and sterilisation equipment had revenues of US$67m in 2008 and Frost & Sullivan (F&S) says this could rise to US$114.8m by 2015.


Low-cost products enjoy preference within this market, especially in the public sector. However, entry into the European Union has compelled eastern European countries to meet EU standards and product quality is therefore becoming increasingly important.

The report, Eastern European Trends for Disinfection and Sterilisation Equipment Markets, covers steam sterilisers, low-temperature gas plasma sterilisers, formaldehyde sterilisers, washer disinfectors and automatic endoscope reprocessors.

"Financial managers at hospitals are increasingly realising the long-term benefit and cost savings associated with the use of sterilisation and disinfectant equipment," says F&S industry analyst Jolize Gerber. "Furthermore, end users are accepting the importance of these systems in controlling infections and lowering costs associated with hospital-acquired infections. These factors are increasing the uptake of higher quality systems within this market."

Such systems enhance overall cost efficiency by reducing costs associated with the procurement of single-use instruments, says the report.

F&S predicts a period of contraction in healthcare expenditure for the next 2–5 years due to the current economic downturn. This, in turn, will affect the growth of hospital budgets, and procurement departments will become stricter about keeping costs down.

"This is set to hamper growth in the sterilisation and disinfection equipment market over the short-to medium term," adds Gerber.

F&S says various strategies can be adopted to enable the market to expand while facing these challenges, including offering a holistic service programme, focusing on supplying quality products, providing after-sales and maintenance contracts and educating customers about the true cost of these systems.

Contact www.frost.com

You may also like