Rise in Death and Serious Injury Linked to Medical Devices in China

Throughout the past few years, the increased use of medical devices in China has helped many patients, but has also been the cause of serious injuries and deaths. In 2015, 184 people died and over 47,000 people experienced severe damage to their health due to medical devices. These critical incidents rose by 15.2% since 2014. About 80% of these incidents are linked to defective medical equipment. The Chinese FDA blamed second-rate designs and poor manufacturing rather than regulations for the equipment’s malfunction. Even though Chinese companies supposedly reported about 17.5% of the total number of incidents caused by their own devices, many people in China still believe Chinese medical device companies are not taking full responsibility for these problems.