The Greek medical devices and supplies market had already recovered in 2020
In 2020, Covid-19 impacted the medical devices and supplies market, with different segments of the market experiencing wide-ranging effects. The rapid initial spread of the pandemic resulted in healthcare systems being severely overwhelmed, with resources and staffing being re-directed to address the surge in patients, particularly in intensive care units.
Medical device market that are imperative to supplying hospital equipment for the management of Covid-19, such as personal protective equipment, ventilators and general hospital supplies, experienced a surge in sales to fulfill the clinical demand. In 2020, however, some companies recording a surge in sales, while a few others had decline in sales and profits.
The market for medical devices shows a recovery in 2020 with an annual rise of 12,6%, valued at 2,14 billion Euro. The value of the market decreased from over 2,7 Billion in 2009 to 2,14 Billion in 2020, at a negative average Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 4,27%.
Despite the significant reduction in the prices, the net profits (before taxes) of the industry in 2020 showed a significant increase of 68% from 2019 according to the published balance sheets of the companies.
The evolution of the Greek market is shown in the following Table 1
| Medical Equipment (bill. €) | 2009 | 2015 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021** |
| Total Market Size * | 2,68 | 1,50 | 1,63 | 1,65 | 1,78 | 2,00 | 2,25 |
| Number of companies | 306 | 405 | 416 | 397 | 377 | 393 | 400 |
Table 1
The sales, profits and accounts receivables for 2019-2020, of the Greek market of medical devices, are shown in Table 2.
| STATITISTICS | YEAR | YEAR | D% | PROFIT % | DIFFERENCE | |
| 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | |||
| SALES | 1.780.887.730,58€ | 2.004.834.395,05 € | 12,58% | 223.946.664,47 € | ||
| INCREASE/DECREASE OF PROFITS | 146.200.931,72€ | 247.199.759,29 € | 69,08% | 8,21% | 12,33% | 100.998.827,57€ |
| ACCOUNT RECEIVABLES | 945.326.906,95€ | 990.845.574,80 € | 4,82% | 45.518.667,85 € |
The percentage increase/decrease in sales is varied according to the demand for specific products and devices that the companies sold in 2020 (Table 3).
| INCREASE/DECREASE of SALES | No of COMPANIES | INCREASE | DECREASE |
| > 1000% | 4 | 4 | |
| > 500% -999% | 1 | 1 | |
| > 200% -499% | 8 | 8 | |
| > 100% -199% | 15 | 15 | |
| > 50% -99% | 39 | 39 | |
| > 30% -49% | 16 | 16 | |
| > 20% -29% | 38 | 38 | |
| > 10% -19% | 36 | 36 | |
| 0 SALES | 3 | 3 | |
| > 0% -10% | 66 | 66 | |
| < 0% -10% | 58 | 58 | |
| < 10% -19% | 59 | 59 | |
| < 20% -39% | 35 | 35 | |
| < 40% – | 15 | 15 | |
| 393 | 226 | 167 | |
| 57,51% | 42,49% |
Table 3
Data sources:
* Institute of Supply Chain & Hospital Technology, based on input from companies annual financial reports and industry executives
** Estimation
From 2010 onwards, austerity measures and health expenditure cuts, had a substantial impact on the medical device market. Because of the difficult economic situation over the past few years, demand for products had decreased and cost-efficiency has become a determining factor in many cases. Pricing continues to be a deciding factor when it comes to procurement for most of medical equipment and for all medical supplies.
Public healthcare institutions (public and private hospitals, health centers, diagnostic centers, clinics, private offices) are the main purchasers of medical equipment and supplies. For some product categories, demand comes, also, directly from individual consumers through the National Organization for Healthcare Provision policy (EOPYY).
In the Greek medical device and supplies market, more than 800 companies are active, mainly as importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. The medical devices and supplies sector continues to rely heavily on imports, since there are limited number of medical supplies manufactures focused mainly on low-value products such as bandages, gauze, and basic hospital furniture (beds, stretchers etc).
According to the Institute, the Greek medical devices sector, although a large percentage of health expenditures in Greece, is not treated like medicine. The world market is of the order of 470 billion €, the European market of 140 billion € (27% of the world market), while the Greek market of the order of 2.14 billion € (1,53% of the European market). There are hundreds of thousands of medical devices, from consumables (bandages, gauze, etc.), to high-tech machines (PET-CT, linear accelerators, robotic surgical systems, MRI and CT scans, etc.).
Small and medium sized companies make up 48 percent of the market and account for 70 percent of the sales. Large companies account for only 0,1 percent of the market but they generate approximately 15 percent of the sales. Most of the multinational companies (European and from USA are well established in Greece).
| Company category* | No of companies | Comp. share | Sales share |
| Large ≥ €44 million | 5 | 0,13% | 14,9% |
| Medium-sized ≤ €43 million | 44 | 11,22% | 42,7% |
| Small-sized ≤ €10 million | 144 | 36,73% | 28,7% |
| Micro ≤ €2 million | 200 | 50,77% | 13,7% |
| Total | 393** | 100,00% | 100,0% |
Table 4
Sources: Institute of Supply Chain & Hospital Technology, The Pulse of the Greek Medical Devices Market
*defined by the European Commission
** The number corresponds to the financial reports published by the companies. The number of companies corresponds to the financial reports
It is forecast to grow at a CAGR of around 12,5% from over 2 Billion € in 2020 to around 2.25 Billion € in 2021. The main segments in the market are medical Imaging equipment, In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD), cardiovascular devices, orthopedic devices and personal protective equipment.
In detail, these systems are located in the public and private sector, as follows:
SYSTEMS Public Private TOTAL
Computed tomography 155 377 532
Magnetic resonance imaging 58 338 396
PET-CT systems 7 7 14
Digital Mammographs 70 400 470
Classical Mammographs 86 317 403
Angiography / Cath Systems 34 29 63
Lithotripsy Systems 10 10 20
Linear Accelerators 30 16 46
TOMOTHERAPY system 1 2 3
Cobalt systems 8 8
Brachytherapy units 10 6 16
Da Vinci Robotic Surgery 1 7 8
Γ-camera systems 52 137 189
X-ray systems 1863 1678 3,541
Bone Density Systems 117 710 827
Orthopantographers 78 748 826
Ultrasound Systems 1,580 6,500 8,080
Hemodialysis Machines 1,820 1,650 3,470
Ventilators 2.341 125 2.466
Anesthesia Machines 1,048 300 1,348
Hospital Supply HTA 