21-Aug-14 The Chinese government has said it will pursue policies explicitly designed to favour domestic medical equipment manufacturers over foreign ones. The move accelerates the trend of foreign medical device manufacturers acquiring or joint venturing with Chinese companies, as well as moving additional medical device manufacturing capacity from their home countries to China.

3-Aug-14 Alibaba affiliate Alipay has announced many Chinese hospitals now accept Alipay for registering, paying for services and even checking clinical test results using a mobile device. Alipay is also planning to integrate EMR functionality into its platform.

21-Mar-14 Korea has announced plans to become one of the top seven countries in the global medical device sector by 2020. This is reminiscent of the country's plan about 15 years ago to become one of the top three in mobile phones within ten years. It happened! Expect to see a lot more from Korean med tech firms in international markets.

10-Feb-14 The World Health Organisation lauded the Philippine e-Health Strategic Framework, saying it pushes the Philippines way ahead of many other countries. The access issue is absolutely critical. Having an IT system that has at the core of it a telemedicine concept will be a way forward to be able to access remote and rural communities.