By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
BECTON, Dickinson and Co. (BD), a multinational medical technology company, is looking to bring its testing and treatment products to more Philippine hospitals and provide training to local healthcare workers.
“One of the things that we’re definitely going to invest in is improving our coverage,” Liang Lu, country general manager and managing director for BD Southeast Asia and Pakistan, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a briefing last month.
“I think in NCR (National Capital Region) and even outside of the capital region, we should have more coverage, either through our own team or through a distributor partner.”
BD produces over 34 billion medical devices annually, with a focus on developing technology, services and solutions that can help both patients and healthcare providers.
The company has been distributing medical care products in the Philippine market for 43 years. It has one office in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and has over 50 associates nationwide.
“Breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as peripheral venous and artery disease — these are the areas where we feel that we have a lot of value to create,” Mr. Liang said.
For breast cancer diagnostics, the company specializes in biopsy needles, while for chemotherapy, BD provides vascular access devices, markers, and guide wires. It also offers screening products and services for cervical cancer and devices for peripheral arterial and venous disease treatment.
Mr. Liang said the Philippines has a “good” healthcare system, citing the Universal Healthcare Act, which seeks to provide all Filipinos access to affordable and quality healthcare.
He also noted that the country’s healthcare spending accounted for 5.9% of its gross domestic product in 2023.
Despite these, the Philippines still has a relatively low life expectancy of 70 years, compared to Indonesia (71.3), Vietnam (74.7), and Singapore (83.9), according to data from the 2024 World Population Review.
“I’m also quite surprised to see how severe the doctor shortage is here… For every population of 1,000, there are only 0.04 doctors,” Mr. Liang said.
Healthcare workers leaving the country to work overseas also remains a key issue in the Philippines, he added. Common reasons for migrating include precarious work, low pay, and burnout.
The Philippines has a shortage of 190,000 healthcare workers, Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said last year.
“It’s actually a systematic issue to attend to, and one of the solutions is to not only train them but also adopt better practices, tools, and solutions that ease their pain and improve efficiency,” Mr. Liang said, adding that there is a need to improve healthcare workers’ incomes.
To help address these gaps, BD is looking to invest in clinical education and partner with relevant stakeholders to help medical professionals in the Philippines, he said.
“We aim to not only leverage our own specialists to provide the training — we also want to work with the leading hospitals and doctors to provide the training as well.”