New COVID-19 Report Reveals Critical Role of Medtech Sector in COVID-19 Response

25 June 2020

Pictured: Hamilton Medical ventilators distributed, installed and supported by Australian medical device company Device Technologies based in Belrose, NSW. 

A new report, ‘Collaborating in the Public Interest: How Australia's Medical Technology Sector joined with Government to fight COVID-19’, outlines the back story on what is coming to be known as the ‘Australian Model’ of government and industry collaboration.

MTPConnect, in collaboration with the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA), released the report last week, to highlight exactly how the industry  and the Australian Government banded together to fight the spread of Coronavirus and ensure supplies of critical medical and personal protective equipment.

In an industry that currently employs more than 19,000 people, MTAA CEO Ian Burgess said the release of the report shows the challenges the industry is facing as COVID-19 disrupts the healthcare system.

“The industry is facing significant challenges, including exponential increases in freight costs, the Aussie dollar and the ongoing impacts of the elective surgery pause,” Mr Burgess added.

“Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we have seen MedTech companies come together in an unprecedented effort to support the Government’s response.”

Through an historical collaboration with the Morrison Government, the MedTech industry successfully secured supplies of essential medical equipment, not only through the global supply chain but through a number of innovative local partnerships that were able to ramp up Australian manufacturing in a remarkably short period of time.

“The MedTech industry has been instrumental in securing essential supplies of ventilators, test kits and PPE on behalf of the Australian Government,” Mr Burgess said.

“The efforts undertaken so far represent a significant change in our contemporary understanding of our domestic manufacturing capacity and demonstrate an untapped potential for more homegrown medtech, a potential we may never have realised without the unprecedented threat of a global pandemic,” Mr Burgess said.

‘Collaborating in the Public Interest: How Australia's Medical Technology Sector joined with Government to fight COVID-19’ is a supplementary report to MTPConnect’s COVID-19 Impact Report, which explores the effects of the pandemic lockdown on the broader medtech, biotech and pharma sector. Both reports can be downloaded here.