India, China favourite destinations for healthcare cos: Survey

India and China are emerging as top global healthcare expansion destinations, according to a survey.

"Decision makers in Asia are heavily focused on global expansion in the next three to five years. China and India are the fastest growing healthcare markets in Asia," according to the UPS 2012 "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" healthcare survey.

As part of its healthcare strategy, UPS is looking at China and India, the two most populous countries with growing healthcare needs, as the major healthcare opportunity markets in Asia.

According to the survey, there's a significant jump in planned technology investments in Asia, with 66 per cent of those surveyed planning to invest in web ordering systems and 59 per cent in e-pedigree/serialisation technologies in next three to five years.

While China is the top expansion destination over the next three to five years for global healthcare executives, it is followed by the United States, Brazil and India, the survey said.

Amidst the changing healthcare landscape in Asia brought by global economic challenges, increasing competition emerged as the top business concern of healthcare executives in Asia, it said.

"More than half of Asia's healthcare decision makers surveyed have said that increasing competition is their top concern," said Lim Bee Koong, director, Healthcare Strategy, Asia Pacific Region.

"Companies need to innovate and adapt to a fast changing market if they want to become market leaders and this is where the supply chain plays an essential role," he said.

UPS 2012 "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" survey, reflects the views of senior-level healthcare supply chain decision makers in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device and supply industries.

This is the second year in which Asian decision makers provided a significant voice, with one third of the respondents coming from China, India and Singapore, reflecting the growing importance of the healthcare industry for UPS.