COVID-19 Driving Demand for Various Medical Gases and Related Equipment

With the burgeoning population and high rate of urbanization, the number of people visiting various kinds of medical centers is increasing every year. This is because, while moving to the cities has certainly raised people’s living standards, the new environment has created a number of problems as well. Air, soil, and water pollution, stressful life, unhealthy dietary habits, and many other issues have led to a rapid rise in the prevalence of all types of diseases. Then, there are crimes and road accidents that cause serious injuries. 

To cater to the increasing number of people in need of medical care, countries around the world are augmenting their healthcare expenditure, so that new facilities can be constructed, the existing ones can be upgraded, and staff can be hired. According to P&S Intelligence, this factor will likely propel the medical gases and equipment market size from $12,607.2 million in 2015 to over $21,600.0 million by 2022, at an 8.0% CAGR between 2016 and 2022. Numerous pure gases and mixtures of gases are used in various applications in healthcare centers, including direct patient care (acute and extended life support, surgery, diagnostics, and anesthetization), laboratories, and device sterilization.

Apart from beds and ventilators, almost all other hospital supplies, including the gases and the equipment used to store and dispense them, are running out. Therefore, countries across the globe are spending like never before to secure essential supplies, which has been driving the demand for medical-grade oxygen and associated equipment. Since COVID-19 is essentially a respiratory infection, ventilators and oxygen have become extremely important in today’s world, in order to save lives. For instance, the Indian government started setting up 246 oxygen production plants across the country.

Hence, as the number of people visiting healthcare facilities increases, the demand for various gases used here, especially the life-giving oxygen, will grow too.