Catalonia is a consolidated bio-health cluster and has a significant presence in the health technology industry – 35% of the companies in the sector nationwide are located in this region -, therefore, being an unbeatable starting situation to enhance its is committed to a sector with high added value, to create wealth, quality employment, knowledge and, above all, to offer the best health care to Catalan patients.
Additionally, the convergence between personalized medicine, digital health, technological innovation and the data economy offers unprecedented opportunities to improve healthcare and the health of the population, which is why “it is necessary to adopt a series of measures aimed at to strengthen an essential sector, such as health technology, and enhance its competitiveness,” says Carlos Sisternas, director of Fenin Catalonia.
In this objective, one of the outstanding proposals of Fenin—a business association that integrates manufacturing and distributing companies of technology and health products—is to undertake the industrialization of the sector. “Strong domestic production is essential to ensure the supply of essential medical equipment. Currently, there is a considerable imbalance in our trade balance, with import values ??higher than export values, which highlights the need to strengthen our capacity of manufacturing to achieve greater autonomy,” says Sisternas, who also suggests the simplification of bureaucratic procedures to facilitate the installation of new companies, the implementation of tax incentives and the promotion of an auxiliary business ecosystem. Furthermore, Fenin advocates the adoption of a “country strategy” that promotes the creation of an innovative and competitive 4.0 industrial model, which has the support of administrations.
Another proposal for the health system of the present and the future concerns the quality of health care based on the use of the best and most modern health technologies, being essential to “guarantee that public purchasing processes for health products and services are carried out prioritizing quality criteria,” says Sisternas.
Fenin also proposes that a reduced VAT be applied without further delay to medical products, since since April 2022 the European Commission has allowed Member States to carry out this measure by considering them “essential and first necessity goods.” According to the federation, this reduction would allow patients to acquire the health products they need for the treatment and control of their disease at a lower cost, and would also mean a saving of more than 1,000 million euros for all healthcare services. health, allowing greater availability of resources for the autonomous communities. “Reducing VAT on health products is a measure that would not only benefit health services, which could invest in the incorporation of technological innovation that improves patient care and modernizes our health system,” comments the director of Fenin Catalonia. .
The health technology sector forms a strategic and essential business fabric, which had a turnover of more than 10.6 billion euros in 2023 – with special roots in Catalonia – capable of improving the health of the population and transforming and strengthening the health system. From this position and the commitment to public-private collaboration, Fenin proposes to administrations and political formations another series of measures such as the indexation of public contracts in the health field, that is, the possibility of revising prices up or down during their validity periods to adapt them to the economic situation of each moment and ensure their economic viability; support for the internationalization of companies in the sector, and the implementation of plans to guarantee the liquidity and solvency of these companies, together with fiscal and economic measures that encourage their activity, ensure a stable regulatory framework and equitable access to innovation that favor the transformation and digitalization of the National Health System.
Thus, in the current electoral moment open in Catalonia, Fenin proposes that the political agenda and the new legislature – whatever the ‘color’ of the Government resulting from May 12 – prioritize the improvement of public health care in Catalonia, supported by patients’ access to the highest quality health technology, and creating a regulatory environment favorable to a sector with high added value and generator of wealth. Through these proposals that promote innovation and efficiency in the health system, this entity seeks to contribute to the well-being of the population and to reinforce the role of the health technology sector as an essential pillar and engine of progress in the field of health.
