Staying alive: medical technologies are adding years to your life – and life to your years There are approximately half a million medical technology products on the European market today, ranging from diagnostic tests, sonograms and incubators, to crutches, wheelchairs, pacemakers and cochlear implants.
Modern technologies can allow us to detect serious illness or injury promptly; to monitor our well-being; and support health professionals in complex surgical procedures.
Medical technology can even make our health systems more efficient and sustainable, enabling them to handle the changing demands of our population. This means improving hospitals and community care as well as empowering patients to manage their own health and bringing treatment closer to the user. In many cases, it can mean delivering care at home – including dialysis, diabetes management and ostomy care.
The medical technology sector is a highly innovative sector that works towards the shared goal of solving the biggest challenges in modern healthcare.
MedTech Europe, the European trade association representing medical technologies, from diagnosis to cure, is helping to show how healthcare innovation has transformed our lives. Not only are we living longer, thanks to technology-enabled healthcare, the quality of our lives is also improving.
Keeping your body running
The medical technology sector in Europe runs a broad range of activities to help put medical technologies on the map. MedTechWeek in June is an annual opportunity to raise awareness and engage on how we can improve healthcare together. Now in its fourth year, MedTechWeek brings together activities from national medical technology associations and companies across Europe to promote the value of life-changing technologies. As a sector, we unite our efforts to provide the most innovative technologies to help people, ease the work of healthcare professionals and improve conditions in hospitals and at home.
Our team is also happy to mix inspiration with perspiration. On 27 May, we joined 40,000 runners on a warm day in Brussels for the annual 20km road race. Representatives from our Brussels office, member companies, national affiliates and patients, in collaboration with the Belgian Paralympic Committee, ran to raise awareness of the life-improving technologies that touch our lives.
An even larger group from our Brussels office was on hand to cheer on the runners and direct supports and participants to our booth at the finish line in Parc Cinquantenaire. Passers-by were also invited to take photos in our photo booth. This was more than just great fun. For every photo taken, a donation was made by MedTech Europe to "La tete sur l'eau", a charity that provides prosthetic limbs to children in need.
The event helped to illustrate how people facing physical challenges can run, dance, walk, and live life to the fullest thanks to their new hips, insulin pumps, lenses, or pacemakers. We’re sure many runners were also thankful to have blister band-aids at their disposal after the run!
And guess what – blister-aids are all medical technologies too!
| Learn more about the medical technology industry by visiting our website – www.medtecheurope.org and of our latest participation with the Belgian Paralympic Committee at Brussels 20K. |
