Refurbished medical equipment market projected to grow, and fast

When it comes to purchasing medical equipment, selecting secondhand doesn’t have to mean settling for second-rate.

New market research shows that healthcare providers are increasingly seeing that light, driving the global refurbished medical equipment market toward a projected $9.37 billion by 2019.

That’s for all categories of equipment and, not surprisingly, the medical imaging segment is expected to top the list, followed by OR and surgical.

The forecast comes from a new report researched by TechNavio-Infiniti Research Ltd. and marketed online by ReportsnReports.com.

If the projection proves out, it will represent a hefty 60% jump over the $5.8 billion global estimation MarketsandMarkets gave for 2012.

North America gobbles up the largest share, 48 percent, of the global refurbished medical equipment market in 2014, followed by Europe, according to a news release from ReportsnReports.

The firm cites as drivers of the growth rapidly aging populations, an increase in “lifestyle diseases (such as cardiovascular disease and cancer),” growing demand for refurbished medical products by small- and medium-sized hospitals, modernization of healthcare facilities in emerging countries and geographic expansions of market players across the globe.

“[N]egative outlook of end users toward the quality of refurbished medical products is a major factor restraining the growth of this market,” reads the release. Still, the growing numbers of private hospitals and diagnostic centers choosing pre-owned, together with the increasing demand for refurbished equipment in emerging markets, are “creating opportunities for growth of the refurbished medical equipment market.”