TURKEY'S MOVE IN A 2-BILLION-DOLLAR GLOBAL MARKET
TURKEY ON THE PATH TO BECOMING A GLOBAL PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY HUB IN THE MEDICAL DEVICE SECTOR
The Medical Device Governance Summit 2.0 was successfully completed. Throughout the summit, which was held in Antalya in May with broad participation, the current state and future of the sector were discussed through a comprehensive approach. Key topics included financing, supply chain processes, regulations, domestic manufacturing, incentives, imports and exports, customs practices, public procurement legislation, digital health, artificial intelligence, the pharmaceutical industry, the current status of pharmaceutical warehouses, the economic contribution of early diagnosis, value-based healthcare models, rapidly evolving medical aesthetics technologies, and other critical issues affecting the sector.
Stakeholders from across the healthcare ecosystem—from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to public institutions and private industry—came together on a common platform, providing an opportunity to evaluate both the current situation and the future roadmap of the sector.
Participating online in the summit, Minister of Health Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu shared information about the completed and ongoing initiatives carried out under the “Producing Health” model. He stated that, as a result of these efforts, the share of domestically manufactured products in public medical device procurement had increased from 24% to over 31%.
As a result, the ratio of medical device exports covering imports rose by approximately 20 percentage points to 43%. Mr. Memişoğlu’s statement, “With nearly 25,000 enterprises in the medical device sector, we are on the path to becoming a global production and supply hub,” clearly demonstrated the importance placed on the medical device industry.
TURKEY'S MOVE IN A 2-BILLION-DOLLAR GLOBAL MARKET
Turkey has launched another strategic investment aimed at reducing dependence on imported healthcare technologies and enhancing its competitiveness in the global marketplace.
The SEM Biotech Vacuum Sterile Blood Collection Tube Manufacturing Facility, established by SEM Group with an investment of USD 20 million, has commenced operations in Istanbul. The global vacuum blood collection tube market exceeds USD 2 billion in size. This investment will enable Turkey to strengthen its position in high value-added manufacturing, become an exporter of healthcare technologies, and develop into a regional production hub.
While hundreds of millions of blood collection tubes are consumed annually in Turkey, a significant portion of this demand has historically been met through imports. With the SEM Biotech investment, imports are expected to decrease substantially. Turkey will gain domestic production capability in high-quality blood collection tubes and will be positioned to export to a broad geographical region, particularly Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
