The market of medical devices in Uzbekistan

 The market of medical devices is an actively developing part of the pharmaceutical sector of the Uzbek economy. Despite the fact that import still plays an important role and account for about 80 % of the pharmaceutical and medical market, currently some benefits are provided to local manufacturers for the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Uzbekistan: medical devices and medical equipment are exempt from value added tax; value added tax is used when importing medical devices that have analogues in local production; import customs duties on technological and laboratory equipment, components and spare parts for pharmaceutical products, “clean rooms” for pharmaceutical production, sandwich panels and ventilation systems, raw materials and materials used in the manufacture of medicines, medical devices and packaging materials.

According to the State Register of Drugs and Medical Devices and Medical Equipment Permitted for Use in Medical Practice of the Republic of Uzbekistan, currently manufacturing companies of Uzbekistan are represented in circulation of various categories of medical devices:

1. Medical equipment - MAGNUM MEDIKAL SERVIS (equipment for anesthesiology and resuscitation, physiotherapy, obstetrics and gynecology and equipment for hospitals), MEDPROMTEX-INVEST (equipment for surgery and physiotherapy, for sterilization, distillation and disinfection) have the largest number of registered medical devices for use.
2. Medical devices. For example, ELASTIKUM produces rehabilitation equipment, dressings and polymeric medical devices; HEALTH LINE produces medical devices for obstetrics, gynecology and urology, medical devices for punctures, injections, transfusions and suction, as well as dressings.
3. Medical devices for in vitro diagnostics. In this category of MD, the most prominent in terms of the number of registration certificates are the state enterprise Radiopreparation, ROSSA and SAXOVATBU.

In total, according to the Register, there are about 120 “native” manufacturers on the MD market of Uzbekistan: a little more than 30 manufacturers of medical equipment, a little more than 80 manufacturers of medical devices and a little more than 10 manufacturers of medical devices for in vitro diagnostics.

As can be seen from the above modest statistics, the main emphasis in the production of MD in Uzbekistan is placed on the production of medical devices, in particular on the production of dressings, but manufacturers of other MD categories are also available on the market.