Top 10 Buyers
Issues of Surgical Instruments Industry in Pakistan
The Surgical Instruments Industry of Pakistan holds a history of more than 100 years, when few British doctors got their surgical instruments repaired from the skilled workers of Sialkot and that was the foundation of Sialkot Surgical Industry.
The surgical instruments industry is mainly clustered in and around the skirts of Sialkot. Over 99% of the country’s production is centered at Sialkot. The sector comprises over 3500+ companies.
Pakistan is one of the major countries in the world that is manufacturing and exporting hand-held quality surgical instruments throughout the world.
Top 10 buyers are the US, Germany, UK, France, Italy, UAE, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. America is the largest market for disposable instruments, while a majority of reusable instruments are exported to the EU. Pakistan’s direct exports of surgical instruments to China is also on the rise.
Some international brands are reported to have shut down manufacturing facilities in their home countries as they get the best products from Pakistani world class artisans
Issues of Surgical Instruments Industry in Pakistan
The surgical sector, according to industrialists, is facing several problems. These range from marketing to adoption of new technology. Marketing is a basic problem owing to a failure to develop local brands. Energy supply is another major handicap. Neither industrialists nor the government allocates funds for R&D to innovate new products in order to stay updated with changing patterns in medical sciences.
There is no training institute to train human resources. As 95pc of the surgical industry operates in the SME sector, there is a need for a common facility center to reduce the cost of production.
Sialkot’s position as a leading exporter of surgical instruments may also come under threat from upcoming competition from China and Mexico. These countries not only have cheap labour, but also use superior technology for innovation and better materials for manufacturing.
The government has also failed to secure direct market access for these products under its so-called preferential trade agreements. Some industrialists say Germany has closed down its own industries and is now outsourcing manufacturing to Sialkot.
Impact of COVID-19 on Surgical Instruments Industry of Pakistan
The surgical industry of Pakistan is dependent on exports – the havoc the pandemic has created in Pakistan’s most relevant export markets means buyers were closed down and shipments either delayed or halted altogether. The sector is also dependent on imported steel; the lockdown and general slowdown has disrupted the supply of inputs. Moreover, firms reported that excessive costs have been incurred due to demurrage as shipments could not be cleared
