Why Patients Deserve Priority in Global Semiconductor Chips Shortage
AdvaMed and its member companies are working to ensure medical technology makers receive priority in semiconductor chip distribution amid a pervasive shortage. The chips are critical to the medical technology patients depend on every day for diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. In an op-ed published via the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, explains the potentially dire consequences of unchecked chip shortages for monitoring unborn babies, treating sudden cardiac arrest patients, assessing the vital signs of intensive care patients, and more.
“Unfortunately, the medical technology industry competes with the automotive, industrial, and consumer industries for a limited supply of critical chips,” van Houten writes. “Due to the urgent need for these in the medical technology industry, representing just 1% of the total supply, we call for chip allocations to be prioritized to a level that enables the industry to meet the medical-device manufacturing demands of today.”
“We need to act now to secure semiconductors to maintain a sustainable allocation of chips for life-saving medical devices and systems and continue to improve the delivery of care.”
––Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips
Leaders of Royal Philips and fellow medtech companies Hologic, BD, ResMed, GE Healthcare, Boston Scientific, Stryker, and Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, joined AdvaMed CEO and President Scott Whitaker in a recent call with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on the chips shortage, among other work to navigate the shortfalls and avoid hardship for patients.
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