During this year's National People's Congress sessions, NPC deputy and part-time director of China National Pharmaceutical Group Yu Qingming focused on the silver economy and the high-quality development of the medical device industry. Yu pointed out that in recent years, driven by the health consumption demands of the aging population, the growth rate of the senior product market in some regions has far surpassed that of traditional industries. Many elderly individuals are willing to pay for quality consumption, with cutting-edge technologies such as domestically produced exoskeleton robots, brain-controlled wheelchairs, AI-powered hearing aids, and humanoid robots being converted into actual purchasing power. However, there remains a shortage of smart medical devices and health equipment in the market that accurately meet the health consumption needs of the elderly. Many devices are homogenized and low-end, while intelligent equipment for home medical care, cognitive intervention, and risk monitoring is scarce.
Yu further highlighted three key issues. First, the latent rigid demand for age-friendly smart medical devices and health equipment has not been effectively met. There is insufficient research, development, and market supply of products that address deeper elderly needs such as physical assistance, voice interaction, conversational assistants, intelligent monitoring, risk alerts, and cognitive intervention. Second, the market is predominantly filled with low-barrier products like walkers, nursing beds, and massagers. Some high-end smart health devices are complex to operate and expensive, making them less user-friendly for the elderly, leading to underuse or abandonment due to difficulty in operation. Third, there is a lack of adequate after-sales support. The absence of comprehensive services including training, data interpretation, consulting guidance, and fault response negatively impacts the user experience.
In response, Yu proposed several recommendations. First, encourage enterprises to develop affordable, easy-to-use, and effective age-friendly smart medical devices and health equipment that are lightweight, intelligent, and user-friendly, tailored to different scenarios, health statuses, and segmented needs. Incorporate some of these elderly-suited products into the medical insurance catalog and promote the application of smart nursing robots and wearable rehabilitation robots in pilot cities for home-based elderly care.
Second, leverage advanced technologies such as AI behavior recognition, brain-computer interfaces, and millimeter-wave radar to research and develop innovative smart devices that can promptly detect and intervene in health risks for the elderly. Simultaneously, actively develop smart care robots to provide home companionship, health inquiries, medication reminders, fitness guidance, and music therapy for the elderly, thereby improving memory and communication functions, and upgrading medical devices and health equipment into "warm" health sentinels, safety partners, and fitness coaches.
Third, create "one-stop" application scenarios by setting up experience stations in communities and establishing dedicated sections for age-appropriate medical devices and health equipment in retail pharmacies and e-commerce platforms, ensuring that the elderly can "see what they get" and guaranteeing affordability, accessibility, and usability.
Fourth, promote multi-department coordination to improve the technical standard system for age-friendly smart medical devices and health equipment, guiding high-quality industrial development through standardization. Establish a cross-departmental joint supervision mechanism to strictly crack down on false advertising of medical devices and health equipment, fostering a clear and conducive environment for the innovative development of the age-friendly smart medical device and health equipment industry.