Imported assistive devices have high prices but become the helpless choice for the disabled? Solve the technical problem of “stuck neck” of domestic assistive devices in this way →
On October 22, the 11th National Paralympic Games will be opened in Shaanxi.
For most disabled athletes, one of the things that will inevitably be used is assistive devices, such as wheelchairs, crutches, and prostheses.
The reporter's investigation found that the assistive device industry, which has been developed in my country for 30 years, can currently meet the basic needs of the disabled, but it needs to be improved in terms of personalized adaptation.
The high price of foreign assistive devices is sometimes a helpless choice
In Qingdao, Shandong, Li Peng is doing rehabilitation training for his daughter Xiao Xinyue with the help of assistive devices. Such training is going on every day.
Xiao Xinyue suffers from a special rare disease-spinal muscular atrophy, the motor function of patients with this disease will gradually deteriorate.
Although she is almost 3 years old, Xiao Xinyue still cannot sit or stand alone. All activities can only be done with various assistive devices.
Since Xiao Xinyue started to become ill, Li Peng and his lover began to inquire about suitable rehabilitation aids.
Xiao Xinyue's father Li Peng:
At that time, I bought assistive devices in the patient group. Some patients with children posted a lot of pictures, both domestically produced and imported.
In the end, according to Xiao Xinyue's situation, Li Peng chose the standing frame and sitting chair imported from abroad. The prices were 21 thousand and 22 thousand, respectively. Compared with domestic products, the price was nearly 10 times higher.
Xiao Xinyue's father Li Peng:
This is a standing frame, which is adjusted to the domestically made width (worse).
This is the width of the crotch, the width of the shoulder, this is the extension of the legs, including stretching, imported ones can be adjusted, but domestically produced ones cannot.
Today, with the support of assistive devices, Xiao Xinyue can complete various movements such as standing, sitting up, and eating.
According to statistics, there are currently about 30,000 patients with spinal muscular atrophy in my country, and rehabilitation aids are tools they use every day.
Xiao Xinyue’s mother Li Xiaoxiao:
I hope that manufacturers in our country that produce this kind of equipment can produce this kind of equipment that meets the needs of families with children like ours. After all, we buy domestic products, which are indeed cheaper than foreign ones. If it is more affordable, our economic pressure is also less.
During the beginning of this year, the story of Xing Yifan, an 18-year-old boy who suffered from muscular dystrophy since childhood, was admitted to Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics with a score of 645 and moved many people.
However, this boy, who is looking forward to being an astronaut and flying freely in space, does not have the right aids to support him in class, and can only rely on his father to make modifications.
Xing Yifan's father Xing Dacheng:
It was too tired for him to sit and walk around like he came back and forth between classrooms.
We thought that we could sit in a wheelchair that combines lying and reclining. When we found it, there were few.
I chose to lie down at 180 degrees, which is quite difficult. After that, I remodeled it for nearly a month. After the remodeling, I didn’t expect that he could not sit still because he was not only sitting on his butt, but also had a left chest, neck and head. With both hands, including feet, the feet must have a bottom plate, and all of them need to be hard, so that he can sit firmly and balanced.
In addition to patients with various diseases, most of the 24.7 million people with disabilities in my country also need to use assistive devices.
Yu Shulan, 60, suffered an accidental amputation of her left calf last year. She likes to travel and exercise, and after a period of evaluation, she finally chose a prosthetic imported from abroad.
Yu Shulan: The
aisle has very good jumping ability. I always like to walk. I often go out to travel like this. When I walk, you can see that I walk so fast, just like my own feet.
The reporter found that, like Yu Shulan, many people with disabilities will encounter similar difficulties when choosing products.
Domestic products are relatively cheap, but their functions are often far from those imported from abroad, while imported products are relatively expensive, and many people cannot afford it.
my country's assistive device R&D and production system is not yet perfect
At present, the demand for assistive devices by the disabled group is becoming more and more refined. According to the relevant person in charge of the my country Disabled The transition from basic assistive devices to personalized and adaptable assistive devices.
However, the reporter's investigation found that the current development of my country's assistive device industry cannot fully meet social needs and still needs to be strengthened.
This assistive device manufacturer in Foshan, Guangdong is one of the earliest manufacturers of assistive devices in my country. Its annual sales are currently over 100 million yuan. The products involve wheelchairs, crutches, walking aids, etc., and are exported both at home and abroad. The industry has more than 30 years, but the person in charge of the company told us that the products put into the domestic market are still dominated by general-purpose basic assistive devices.
Yang Zijian, chairman of Guangdong Foshan Dongfang Medical Equipment Factory Co., Ltd.:
With the development of society, the number of people who need assistive devices is very large, including the disabled and the elderly. This market does exist.
However, if we invest for each model (personalized product), the investment of R&D personnel and the investment of molds, after it is made into a product, we have to sell it overseas, and some of it may not be able to recover the cost.
Yang Zijian told us that compared to the production of general-purpose assistive devices, mass-produced products can often be achieved by opening a mold once. For personalized assistive devices, due to the more refined demand, experts from various industries such as medicine and rehabilitation are also involved in the research and development stage for mold opening and production. The investment is often much larger, and the corresponding ex-factory price will be much higher than that of general-purpose assistive devices.
Therefore, considering the cost and the purchasing power of users, companies are often afraid to develop and produce such assistive devices.
The reporter visited a number of assistive device manufacturers and found that many manufacturers are afraid to invest in research and development, which is exactly the same as the problems faced by the company in Foshan.
Su Ying, general manager of Anhui Aibo Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.: The
mid-to-high-end rehabilitation aid industry is a capital and technology-intensive industry. Its investment is high, the cycle is long, and the return on costs is slow. With a long chain, we have found a good demand, and its technology can be solved relatively through a period of research. At this time, we are facing the problem of industrialization.
Next to market promotion, acceptance, and willingness to pay are actually some of the difficulties we face.
Wu Yi, deputy director of the Information and Cooperation Department of the China Center for Assistive Devices for the Disabled:
More companies in our country are still in low-end assistive devices. The R&D cost of truly high-end assistive devices is huge. The cost of the product is relatively small, because personalized service is impossible to make mass production, and professional R&D personnel are relatively small.
According to Wu Yi, the China Disabled Persons’ Federation is currently making every effort to promote the establishment of the China Rehabilitation University, researching and formulating assistive device service standards, accelerating the training of specialized personnel, and continuously improving the level of assistive device adaptation services. However, there is still a large gap in my country’s rehabilitation assistive technology consultants. .
Wu Yi, deputy director of the Information and Cooperation Department of the China Center for Assistive Devices for the Disabled:
There are probably less than 2 rehabilitation service personnel for every 1,000 people. The gap is still very large. At present, the gap may be about 60,000 to 70,000.
Wu Yi said that my country’s investment in the assistive device industry was mainly focused on meeting the basic needs of the disabled. The support for mid-to-high-end assistive devices has also increased in recent years, but it has not yet been able to achieve full coverage.
Explore various forms to promote the high-quality development of the assistive device industry
A few days ago, the State Council issued the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Development of Disabled Persons", which clearly stated that the development of assistive device services for rehabilitation should be accelerated. During the period, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of service specialization and further enrich the supply of auxiliary equipment products.
At present, in Anhui and other places, various forms have been explored to promote the high-quality development of the assistive device industry.
In Wannianbu Street, Baohe District, Hefei City, Anhui Province, disabled or elderly people in the community can rent assistive devices at the assistive device rental and sales center according to their needs.
These assistive devices, which cost thousands of dollars at any time, can be rented home for only a few dollars a day.
Zhang Dejian, person in charge of the Smart Assistive Rental Center, Wannianbu Street, Baohe District, Hefei City, Anhui Province:
Sometimes the price of assistive
devices is
too high, but we can rent them through assistive devices, which not only solves the problem of excessive costs, but also Make the usage rate of this product higher.
Now in Anhui, such leasing pilots have been rolled out in Anqing, Suzhou, Wuhu and other cities, and the government has allocated 20 million yuan to support community leasing of rehabilitation assistive devices in the province.
In response to the weak research and development capabilities of high-end personalized assistive devices for enterprises, the government integrates resources from universities, hospitals, and enterprises to build an integrated platform for industry-university-research and fully promotes the research and development of mid-to-high-end assistive devices.
Sun Shuaishuai, a researcher at the School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China: There
are a lot of such "stuck neck" problems in high-end assistive devices.
Our colleges and universities now have a lot of feedback from hospitals, and doctors will also give us professional advice and guidance.
Zhang Dongyun, Director of the Civil Affairs Department of Anhui Province:
We put the industry of rehabilitation aids into the innovation system.
If the innovation team meets the conditions, they will give 10 million and 5 million support. At the government level, we coordinate all aspects of integration.
At present, Shanghai, Jiangsu and many other places are actively exploring the road of high-quality development of the rehabilitation aid industry.
The China Disabled Persons’ Federation has initially established a three-level assistive device service system for persons with disabilities at the provincial, municipal and county levels. At the same time, under the continuous promotion of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation and the China Disabled Persons’ Assistive Devices Center, the scientific research and innovation of rehabilitation assistive devices has been incorporated into the overall national science and technology development. A series of national key research and development plans have been approved and implemented.
Wu Yi, deputy director of the Information and Cooperation Department of the China Center for Assistive Devices for the Disabled:
There are still some provinces and cities in our country that are formulating and introducing subsidy systems for related assistive devices.
We must rely on the Internet and big data to collect more needs of the disabled, so that the disabled can run errands less and allow more data to run away.
Not long ago, seven departments including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation identified 22 cities as the second batch of national comprehensive innovation pilots for the rehabilitation assistive device industry. Rehabilitation assistive device configuration service requirements and other aspects have formed a batch of replicable and extendable policy measures and development models.
Zhan Chengfu, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs: We
must play the role of inter-ministerial joint meetings, improve the policy system of the rehabilitation assistive device industry, increase the research and development of key core technologies, focus on solving the technical "stuck neck" problem, and expand the supply of rehabilitation assistive devices.
Establish and improve a payment security system that combines insurance, welfare, assistance, and charity, and strengthen service and application promotion.