The expansive growth of the healthcare space has led to medical fluid bags market witnessing an ever-rising projectile in the recent years, given the indispensability of medial fluid bags before, during and after medical procedures. One of the most exemplary incidences that brought forth the creativity of medical fluid bags market players was the hurricane Maria. After the tornado devastated Puerto Rico in the late 2017, the United States faced a critical shortage of IV bags and solutions which were mostly sourced from Puerto Rico. As prominent hospitals scrambled to find alternative supply and solutions, numerous industry firms had begun to devise innovative means of administering drugs and fluids to patients.
India Medical Fluid Bags Market, By Material, 2013 – 2024 (USD Million)
The product that got affected the most and wrecked a havoc on the medical community was sodium chloride, better known as saline. This ubiquitous solution is largely used to rehydrate patients and to dilute medications from pain killers to antibiotics to cancer drugs. Hurricane Maria caused damage in facilities and the loss of multiple production days in Puerto Rico, bringing about a shortage in not only small saline solution bags but also various medicines that are manufactured in the island country.
Medical institutions such as the Rush University Medical Center of Chicago used the small bags to mix prescribed drugs before administering them, while the Duke University Hospital in Durham had to switch to other methods of drug and saline administration within a very short period of time. The turmoil that the shortage of saline bags created worked as good indicator to highlight the prominence medical fluid bags market demands and the extent of potential it has in the years ahead. Add to it the rising incidences of chronic diseases and a cumulative geriatric population, and medical fluid bags industry trends are all set to observe a revolution.
According to experts, the IV solutions market witnessed significant upheaval in the United States in 2017, leading to a profitable growths spectrum for medical fluid bags industry as well. There had been rapid business development in the IV solution market when Pfizer bought Hospira and spun off its IV products to ICU Medical Inc., an infusion company. Another company that has a remarkable presence in the medical fluid bags industry, B. Braun Medical Inc., also owns a notable share of the IV solution market.
Baxter, despite being a dominant player in the U.S. IV solutions market, failed to provide the saline bags from its Puerto Rican production facility that jeopardized several medical institutions. The Food and Drug Administration had to finally step in and give Baxter International the permission to import saline and other IV solutions from its manufacturing facilities in Australia and Ireland to ease shortages in the United States. The rapidly increasing demand for IV solutions, especially among the elderly, owing to swallowing difficulties will thus push medical fluid bags market outlook.
Not only IV solutions, but the increasing awareness for blood donations, development of blood banks, prevalence of kidney diseases requiring use of drain bags, breastmilk donation and need for breastmilk storage have also emerged as leading drivers for the growth of medical fluid bags market. Driven by the increasing number of women joining back the workforce soon after giving birth and yet opting to provide their infants with the nutrition only breastmilk can provide, breastmilk bags market size is expected to record a CAGR of 7.1% over 2018-2024. Breastmilk bags, being specialized bags that are stronger and more hygienic than other storage bags and more capable in preserving the nutritional value of a mother’s milk, are expected to gain rapid momentum in the ensuing years, impelling medical fluid bags market share.
As medical fluid bags market gains traction, the rising concerns about how PVC medical fluid bags can add to environmental pollution is a topic that is coming to the fore. Patient safety being one of the most important concerns for the healthcare industry, has led to rising significance being attributed to the material used to manufacture medical fluid bags. It has been observed that newer materials like thermoplastic elastomers have gained precedence over PVC bags not only because of their tear resistant properties but also for being more ecofriendly due to easy recyclability. Polyolefin is yet another material that has widely captured consumer interest, as it achieves a desirable balance between cost and performance and enables a wide range of new design opportunities. Indeed, medical fluid bags market share from polyolefins stood at $925.2 million in 2017.
The healthcare system has evolved magnificently over the past few decades leading to increased life expectancies. However it is undeniable that changing lifestyles and degrading environmental conditions have caused a higher incidence of diseases. While new treatments, practices, sophisticated surgeries and medical procedures have been developed in recent times, some of the core procedures for medical methods like blood and saline transfusion have remained as important as they did before, providing unwavering importance to medical fluid bags market.