In 2020 Argentine Hospitals Surged in Specialized Equipment Counts

April 23, 2021

Although the COVID-19 pandemic would ostensibly focus hospital resources on more basic equipment such as ventilators and patient monitors, in 2020 Argentina’s hospitals increased their counts of highly specialized medical equipment — along with basic equipment.

Global Health Intelligence (GHI) analyzed the final 2020 data from HospiScope, which tracks the installed base of medical equipment and devices for hospitals in Latin America. Argentina posted impressive increases in specialized medical equipment:

Hemodialysis machines: 15.1% increase
MRI machines: 14.9% increase
Linear accelerators: 10.7% increase
Angiograms: 8.2% increase
Gamma cameras: 6.2% increase
Fluoroscopes: 5.1% increase
C-arms: 3.5% increase

Not all types of specialized medical equipment increased their counts in Argentine hospitals in 2020: for example, bone densitometers decreased by 2% and stereotactic mammography machines went down by 9.9%. That said, it is impressive that at least 7 categories of high-ticket medical equipment went up, especially in a year in which many surgical procedures that require this equipment were cancelled or postponed due to COVID.

Back to Basics

Argentina’s hospitals also increased their counts of certain types of basic medical equipment in 2020:

Patient monitoring systems: 16.8% increase
Infusion pumps: 6.8% increase
Anesthesia machines: 6.5% increase
Ventilators: 4.9% increase
Ultrasound machines: 4.9% increase
EKG machines: 2.5% increase

Medical Equipment Market Growth in Argentina, 2019-2023

While 2020’s growth is interesting data to have, sales and marketing teams for medical equipment manufacturers in Latin America require future growth projections for the medical equipment market. In our HospiRank 2020 report — which features the best-equipped hospitals in Argentina and 9 other major hospital markets — also features growth projections for medical equipment/devices in Latin America for more than 30 categories.

Here is a look at the forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2019 and 2023 for the equipment types that posted strong growth in 2020 in Argentina:

Hemodialysis machines: 11% CAGR
MRI machines: 11% CAGR
Linear accelerators: 9% CAGR
Angiograms: 9% CAGR
Gamma cameras: 15% CAGR
Fluoroscopes: 27% CAGR
C-arms: 7% CAGR

The 2020 growth categories all have projected CAGR through 2023…and 4 of these 7 categories have higher projected CAGRs than their 2020 growth rates.

The same encouraging outlook is projected for the basic equipment types that grew strongly:

Infusion pumps: 23% CAGR
Anesthesia machines: 3% CAGR
Ventilators: 8% CAGR
Ultrasound machines: 4% CAGR
EKG machines: 3% CAGR

Going further

Contact us for a deeper dive into the medical equipment market in Argentina. HospiScope will reveal growth/contraction for dozens more types of equipment, along with the specific hospitals that are acquiring the most equipment. ShareScope can allow you to understand which companies have the highest market share in different areas, while SurgiScope allows you to gauge market demand by knowing which surgical procedures are the most popular. In-Scope can help you go deeper into Argentina or other markets to understand the specific demand drivers through a customized study. This can allow you to plan your strategy in Argentina even more effectively.

Finally, if you’re more interested in keeping up with changes with hospitals in Argentina or in 11 other markets, explore our Latin American Hospital Monitoring Service. Subscribing to this service gives you data updates every week on the hospitals in the LatAm country (countries) of your choice. You access the data using a Power BI platform that displays this fresh information in an easy-to-use format that make it ideal for your planning or presentation needs.

GHI Team