Today (March 4th), the 2025 National Two Sessions officially opened, with a concentrated output of voices in the medical field: innovative medical devices, high-end medical equipment, AI healthcare, recovery of the centralized procurement market, anti-corruption in healthcare.....

Key Terms for Medical Devices at the Two Sessions: Innovation, High-End

At the 2024 National Two Sessions, "new quality productivity" was one of the hottest terms, with innovation-driven high-end medical devices receiving significant attention. This trend is expected to continue in 2025.

Recently, Yuan Yuyu, a national people's congress deputy and chairman of Medprin, mentioned in an interview: "Currently, our country's scientific and technological innovation still faces issues regarding the rate of technology conversion. If enterprises were made the main drivers of innovation from the early stages, more resources, efforts, and policies could be directed towards them. Enterprises could then lead in promoting innovative consortia, working together with universities and research institutions to solve certain industrial and clinical problems. This way, innovation can be more efficient, closer to the market, and better aligned with industry needs, thus facilitating innovation from a conversion perspective."

The medical device industry is knowledge-intensive, and the conversion of innovative outcomes relies on deep integration among industry, academia, and research. From recent public achievements, it is evident that the connection between the industry and academia in the medical device sector is becoming increasingly close, with multiple examples of breakthroughs in high-end areas.

Yang Jiancheng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and deputy director of the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated, "High-end medical equipment is an important symbol of national scientific and technological progress and a critical foundation for safeguarding people's health. One of my key focuses this year is to encourage continuous innovation in high-end medical devices."

Public information shows that the heavy ion precise radiotherapy device developed by the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been built and promoted in 9 units. Among these, 6 have obtained large-scale high-end medical registration certificates, and 3 are already in operation, having treated over 1,800 patients cumulatively.

New Changes in the Medical Device Market:

Facilitating Hospital Access, Overcoming Centralized Procurement Challenges

As the industry accelerates its upgrade, the market end also needs to make corresponding adjustments to promote the commercial transformation of domestically innovative high-end medical devices, thereby achieving high-quality and sustainable development.

Ao Hushan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Executive Vice President of the Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology, introduced that his focus during this year's Two Sessions is on breaking down institutional barriers to facilitate the entry of medical technology innovation products into hospitals, empowering patient health.

Ao Hushan stated that he will propose at this year's Two Sessions to streamline and improve the evaluation mechanisms for hospitals by the National Health Commission and the National Healthcare Security Administration. At the national policy level, it is necessary to create a green channel for the entry of innovative products into hospitals, while optimizing the medical insurance reimbursement system, moderately increasing the reimbursement rate for scientifically verified innovative medical products.

In addition, a standardized data sharing mechanism should be established, guiding hospitals to moderately open medical data to medical technology innovation enterprises under the premise of ensuring patient privacy security, helping enterprises accurately grasp market demand, accelerate the R&D process of innovative products and high-end medical equipment, and enhance the applicability and relevance of R&D results.

Large-scale centralized procurement has been implemented for many years, and the new price cycle brings new challenges to pharmaceutical and medical device companies. During the Two Sessions, the centralized procurement of medical devices has also attracted attention.

Zhang Haijun, a National People's Congress delegate, said that during this year's Two Sessions, he will focus on how medical device companies can overcome difficulties after the implementation of centralized procurement, including how to reduce costs and convert prices into volume domestically.

03

Tackling from the Source

Cracking Down on Medical Corruption

On March 1, the People's Daily Online released the results of the 2025 National Two Sessions survey. Over the course of a month, the voting results from netizens showed that "people's livelihood protection," "promoting integrity and fighting corruption," and "social governance" were the three most concerning hot topics, ranking in the top three.

According to the Procuratorial Daily, Huang Hai, a national representative and president of Jilin Heart Disease Hospital, suggested that procuratorates should continue to fully leverage their supervisory functions, increase legal education efforts for medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacies, and promote standardized medication use, standardized consumables, and standardized diagnosis and treatment, to prevent and reduce medical and pharmaceutical-related criminal offenses at the source.

Song Zhaopu, a national representative and president of Ruzhou City Jinge Rehabilitation Hospital in Henan Province, also stated in an interview that he suggests using legislative means to clarify the public welfare nature of hospitals and regulate the behavior of hospitals and doctors. For example, it is strictly forbidden for hospitals to set revenue targets for departments and medical staff, and the salaries of medical personnel should not be linked to business income. At the same time, a zero-tolerance attitude should be taken towards accepting red envelopes, kickbacks, and other behaviors, and medical corruption should be severely cracked down upon.

04

DeepSeek Goes Viral

Medical AI Draws Attention at the Two Sessions

At the beginning of 2025, DeepSeek went viral globally, bringing new possibilities to the development of the medical industry.

Lou Qianjin, spokesperson for the third session of the 14th National People's Congress, said that the significant progress made by DeepSeek represents the rise of a group of Chinese companies in the field of artificial intelligence. DeepSeek adheres to an open-source technology route, and its open-source sharing has promoted the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology globally, contributing "Chinese wisdom" to the world.

National People's Congress deputy and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Zhang Boli, is preparing to propose a suggestion titled 'On Transforming Traditional Pharmaceutical Industries with AI Technology and Empowering High-Quality Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry through Smart Manufacturing.' He mentioned, "In the process of explosive growth of artificial intelligence, the pharmaceutical industry must seize this opportunity to comprehensively enhance high-quality development from aspects such as systematic layout, technological support, and transformation applications."

CPPCC National Committee member and professor Gan Huatian from West China Hospital of Sichuan University is preparing suggestions for accelerating the legislative process for AI medical applications during this year's Two Sessions, including urging the national legislative body to quickly formulate and improve laws and regulations related to AI in healthcare, clarifying the legal status, usage boundaries, safety standards, and ethical norms of AI in healthcare.

CPPCC National Committee member and Party Secretary Liu Lianxin of the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC (Anhui Provincial Hospital) stated that he will focus on "AI + Healthcare," hoping that the wide application of artificial intelligence technology can provide more precise and efficient medical services to patients.

05‍

Focusing on Grassroots Healthcare

Implementing Hierarchical Medical Treatment

For many years, grassroots healthcare has always been a hot topic of concern for representatives and committee members. Addressing the practical bottlenecks in grassroots healthcare still requires the acceleration of medical resource下沉. [Note: The term "下沉" was not translated as it seems to be a placeholder or a specific term that might need further context for accurate translation. If you mean "sinking down" or "deployment to lower levels," please let me know so I can adjust accordingly.]

National People's Congress deputy and chairman of Hao Yisheng Group, Geng Funeng, said that this is his 13th year serving as a national people's congress deputy. As a representative from the pharmaceutical industry, he will propose suggestions regarding the improvement of grassroots medical treatment levels and reforms in the medical security system.

Geng Funeng suggests that the state should increase support in terms of funding and policies, encouraging doctors to leave hospitals and open clinics, encouraging social forces to open clinics, relaxing restrictions on clinic testing services, strengthening skills training for grassroots medical personnel, supporting grassroots medical institutions in providing internet-based medical services, thereby improving the level of grassroots medical services, effectively implementing tiered diagnosis and treatment, and allowing more grassroots people to enjoy better medical services.

National People's Congress representative and Dean of the School of Nursing at Lanzhou University, Han Lin, suggests expanding talent introduction channels and optimizing talent cultivation models. It is suggested that local government departments pay more attention to the human resource situation of grassroots medical and health institutions, diagnose and prescribe solutions for issues related to the construction of grassroots medical and health talent teams, and consider including these in government performance evaluations.

06

Focus on Health Screening

Establish Early Diagnosis and Treatment System

Zheng Hong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice president of Tianjin First Central Hospital, expressed the hope that urine screening for primary and secondary school students could be included as a basic examination item to safeguard the health of the next generation.

Zheng Hong introduced: 'Japan, South Korea, and Singapore have already started urine screening in primary and secondary schools. Although urine testing is relatively cumbersome in terms of technical operation and quality control, from a medical evidence perspective, urine screening is of great significance for detecting chronic kidney diseases (such as immune nephropathy, nephrotic syndrome, etc.) and structural abnormalities. We should actively learn from and emulate this, and improve relevant work.'

National People's Congress delegate and Chairman of Kangweishiji Wang Chunxiang also suggested further strengthening the work on disease screening and early diagnosis and treatment. She pointed out that many diseases, when discovered and treated at an early stage, can greatly improve the cure rate and quality of life for patients. Currently, the popularization level and technical standards of disease screening need to be improved, and public awareness regarding early diagnosis and treatment is relatively weak. Efforts should be made to strengthen publicity and education, enhance public health awareness, while increasing the research, development, and application of screening technologies, and establishing a comprehensive system for early diagnosis and treatment.