Month: May 2025

The global healthcare service robots market revenue surpass USD 4.97 billion in 2025 and is predicted to attain around USD 8.60 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 7.10%. The demand for healthcare service robots is increasing due to the growing adoption of surgical robots across the globe.

Market overview
The healthcare service robots market emphasizes robotics applications in the medical industry, such as rehabilitation, surgical, and patient care robots. The sector also encompasses the utilization of robotics technology to offer assistance and support in different healthcare settings, such as hospitals, clinics, and home care. These robots aim to improve patient outcomes, enhance overall efficiency, and minimize workload for medical professionals by addressing staffing shortages.

Market trends
Technological innovations in the field
Advancements such as data analytics, robotic catheter control systems, and 3D imaging are enhancing surgical precision and minimizing recovery times. Hospitals are rapidly using robots for tasks such as transportation, handling, and disinfection to enhance operational efficiency and decrease labor costs. Also, the rising prevalence of diseases such as neurological disorders, cancer, and orthopedic conditions can impact market growth positively.

Surge in home healthcare facilitiesGrowing demand for minimally invasive surgeries
There is an increasing adoption of medical robots by the majority of medical professionals due to the growing inclination towards minimally invasive surgeries. Furthermore, the raised awareness regarding the innumerable benefits has propelled the demand for advanced robotic solutions, impacting the market soon. Each day, individuals get better treatment margins because hospitals acquire more reliable and evolved robotic systems.

Regional outlooks
North America dominated the healthcare service robots market in 2024. The dominance of the region can be attributed to the innovative healthcare infrastructure, along with the advanced technologies, coupled with the substantial investment in robotic research and development. However, there is a huge scale of funding for healthcare advancement in countries such as Canada and the U.S., which makes North America a leading region in the world.

The European healthcare service robots market is expected to grow at the fastest rate over the forecast period. The growth of the region can be credited to the surge in investments in healthcare technology, along with the favorable government policies for robotic innovations. Furthermore, the major countries in the region, Germany, France, and the UK, are becoming hubs for innovative technologies through collaboration between academia and industry, leading to the expansion of regional market growth. Precedence Research

Hospitals across the country are starting to reckon with the effects President Trump’s tariffs are having on medical supplies like syringes and PPE, and in some cases freezing spending and making other contingencies.

Why it matters: A global trade war could bring a return to pandemic disruptions if imported goods that health systems purchase in high volumes from China can’t be replenished. And there’s still the prospect of Trump’s tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

• Ultimately, experts warn, supply disruptions and price hikes could drive up the price of patient care.

“Tariffs have the potential to add a layer of complication to [hospitals’] ability to get all of those medical goods, the drugs and the devices that they need to deliver care,” said Akin Demehin, the American Hospital Association’s vice president of quality and patient safety policy.

State of play: So far, there have been no widespread shortages or price spikes.

• What most concerns the providers is a reliance on medical gear from China. Enteral syringes used to deliver drugs or nutrition through feeding tubes have no alternative sources and are subject to a 245% tariff, according to group purchasing organization Premier.
• “With the consumables — the gowns, the gloves, masks … hospitals go through an enormous volume of those every year. Certainly there is some risk there,” said Kyle MacKinnon, senior director of operational excellence at Premier.

The pandemic spawned more domestic manufacturing of medical gear — and an anticipated reduction in dependence on overseas suppliers. But many of the startups have since disappeared, the New York Times reported, leaving the health system once again vulnerable to supply shocks amid threats like measles outbreaks and avian flu.

Between the lines: The situation could be further complicated by tariffs on pharmaceuticals that could weigh particularly hard on imported generics.

• Cancer and cardiovascular medications, as well as immunosuppressives and antibiotics, are of great concern to hospitals, per a letter the American Hospital Association sent earlier this year to Trump. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston instituted a hiring freeze due to uncertainty, in part, from the tariffs’ impact on drug prices.
• Medical devices are also facing a high level of exposure with roughly 70% of U.S. marketed medical devices manufactured exclusively outside the U.S., Premier wrote.
• The American Hospital Association on Wednesday pointed to data that found 82% of health care experts expect tariff-related expenses to raise hospital costs by at least 15% over the next six months.
• 94% of health care administrators expected to put off equipment upgrades, in response.

Reality check: Many hospitals may still be insulated from the worst effects because of long-term purchasing contracts.

• Universal Health Services CFO Steve Filton said during an earnings call that three-quarters of the company’s supply chain had fixed contracted prices, Fierce Healthcare reported.
• The company had begun to see “fees or stipends” on invoices with vendors with fixed contracted prices but had been ignoring them. “At the moment, it feels like there’s not a great deal of pressure,” he said.
• But a dramatic reduction in goods from a major trading partner will eventually hit multiple players needing to replenish inventories, experts predict.

What to watch: Hospitals are among trade groups lobbying for tariff exemptions for critical medical supplies, including drugs. One question is whether pharmaceutical manufacturers can limit their exposure by “reshoring” more intellectual property in order to pay more U.S. taxes, Leerink Partners wrote in an investor note on Wednesday.

• As supplies that have been stockpiled by hospitals begin to run low or as contracted prices expire, the true costs will begin to be felt.
• “We especially worry about the potential impacts to vulnerable and to rural health care providers who already are operating on thin margins, and for whom changes in the cost of those kinds of goods could have a disproportionate impact,” Demehin said.

Axios

US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered new limitations on a form of biological research his administration says caused the Covid-19 pandemic through a lab leak in China.

White House site blames China for Covid-19 ‘lab leak’
The United States will halt funding in certain countries for so-called “gain-of-function” experiments — aimed at enhancing the properties of pathogens —- according to an executive order Trump signed Monday at the White House.

“There’s no laboratory that’s immune from leaks — and this is going to prevent inadvertent leaks from happening in the future and endangering humanity,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X.

“Any nation that engages in this research endangers their own population, as well as the world, as we saw during the COVID pandemic,” added Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health.

Trump has long championed the theory that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a result of gain-of-function research — an alternative to the theory that the virus spilled over naturally from wild animals to humans at a seafood market in the same city.

The US government website Covid.gov, which previously focused on promoting vaccine and testing information, is now devoted to highlighting arguments that favor the lab leak.

Several US agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Energy, and, most recently, the Central Intelligence Agency — which shifted its stance under Trump’s second term — now lean toward a lab origin. Several other intelligence agencies favor natural spillover.

During the 2010s, the National Institutes of Health funded bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute via the US-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance — a grant axed by Trump in 2020 during his first term, but later partially restored under president Joe Biden.

Complicating matters, former top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci has maintained that the work in Wuhan did not meet the federal definition of gain-of-function, though some virologists and US officials have disputed that claim.

Trump’s order names China as an example of a “country of concern” where such research should not be supported.

The order also seeks to end funding for other types of life sciences research in countries deemed to lack sufficient oversight, significantly broadening the types of foreign research that could be targeted.

It further calls for the development of a strategy to “govern, limit, and track dangerous gain-of-function research across the United States that occurs without federal funding” — though the extent of the government’s control over non-federal research is unclear, and the order also calls for new legislation to fill any gaps.

Trump’s executive order comes amid broader efforts by his administration to reshape American science and health policy, including mass firings to government scientists and steep slashes to research budgets. AFP

The Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine and Beijing University of Technology have announced the launch of a strategic partnership aimed at advancing algorithms to enhance the quality of ultrasound imaging and improve diagnostic accuracy. The collaboration, which brings together leading Russian and Chinese scientists, is particularly focused on increasing the early detection rates of breast cancer.

Yuri Vasilev, Chief Consultant for Diagnostic Imaging of the Moscow Health Care Department, emphasized the importance of international collaboration in the medical field.

“Expanding international cooperation in medical education and research is one of our top priorities,” Vasiliev said. “This partnership with Beijing University of Technology—a leading technical institution in China—marks a significant step forward in advancing medical technologies and enhancing breast cancer diagnostics. The agreement paves the way for sharing expertise and implementing innovative solutions in Russian healthcare institutions.”

Under the agreement, the two institutions will exchange scientific materials and research experience, jointly develop new mathematical models and data analysis methods, co-author scientific articles, and participate in international conferences.

Anton Vladzimirsky, Ph.D. in Medicine, D.Sc. and Deputy Director for Research at the Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine, highlighted the mutual benefits of the partnership. “Our Chinese colleagues are interested in our expertise in producing and applying medical phantoms for equipment calibration and specialist training in diagnostic ultrasound. Conversely, we are keen to learn from their approach to designing mathematical algorithms for signal processing. By combining our international expertise, we can develop more advanced ultrasound imaging algorithms, ultimately improving diagnostic accuracy for socially significant diseases,” Vladzimirsky said.

To date, Moscow researchers have developed 12 medical phantoms that mimic human tissues, organs, and anatomical structures. These phantoms fall into two primary categories: those used for training healthcare professionals and those used for calibrating diagnostic equipment. The use of phantoms enables practitioners to refine their techniques for critical diagnostic procedures and ensures devices are properly prepared for clinical use.

Zhuhuang Zhou, Ph.D., Associate Professor., Dept. of Biomedical Engineering College of Chemistry and Life Science at Beijing University of Technology, noted the value of this collaboration: “We are pleased to work with the Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine. We share a common scientific goal—to develop algorithms that enhance ultrasound diagnostics. The experience of our Moscow colleagues, particularly in creating medical phantoms, is of great interest to us. We plan to use these phantoms to test and refine new artificial intelligence algorithms before proceeding to clinical trials. The accuracy and realism of these models are vital to the validity of our research. We are confident that this scientific partnership will enable significant progress in healthcare innovation.”

The Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine, operating under the Moscow Healthcare Department, is a leading scientific and practical institution driving innovation in medical diagnosis and digital healthcare. The Center specializes the management of radiology departments, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into clinical practice. The Center is also dedicated to scientific research and the training of medical professionals. Since 2013, the Center’s team has produced over 800 scientific publications, including articles, methodological guidelines, monographs, and training manuals, and has registered more than 200 intellectual property results.

A pioneer in digital transformation, the Center has played a central role in Moscow’s large-scale experiment with computer vision and AI in medicine. Since 2020, the Center has been conducting an experiment focused on integrating computer vision technologies into medical practice. As part of this initiative, neural networks have analyzed over 14 million medical images with a high degree of accuracy, demonstrating the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in enhancing diagnostic precision and efficiency within healthcare settings.

Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) is recognized as one of China’s foremost technical universities and a major center for education and research. BJUT has made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology in China and is actively engaged in international collaboration, implementing joint educational programs and research projects with leading universities and scientific. Medicircle

In a major step towards enhancing transparency, accountability, and technological inclusion in Delhi’s Medico-Legal system, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday inaugurated MedLEaPR (Medical Legal Examination and Post Mortem Reporting) platform at the Delhi Secretariat.

Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), MedLEaPR is an advanced digital system designed to streamline the reporting of medico-legal cases (MLCs) and post-mortem reports (PMRs) across all healthcare institutions in Delhi.

‘MedLEaPR enables effective reporting of medico-legal cases (MLCs) and post-mortem reports (PMRs) across health institutions. The goal of the system is to enhance transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the medico-legal documentation process,’ said CM Gupta.

The launch event was attended by Delhi Minister Ashish Sood, Chief Secretary Dharmendra, and senior officials from the Delhi Police, Home Department, and NIC.

Highlighting the platform’s capabilities, CM Gupta noted that MedLEaPR will reduce the need for handwritten documentation by allowing all reports to be submitted electronically. Only authorised personnel will have access through secure user authentication and access control features. Every action taken within the platform will be recorded in a comprehensive audit trail, ensuring transparency and accountability at every step.

The platform is also fully integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), enabling seamless coordination among hospitals, investigating agencies, forensic labs, and the judiciary.

According to the Chief Minister, the initiative not only represents a leap toward digital governance but also significantly reduces the time required to prepare and process reports. This will lead to better coordination between healthcare and law enforcement, more accurate documentation, and enhanced efficiency in the judicial process.

The chief minister noted that the government of Delhi is committed to providing fast, transparent, and trustworthy services to the public through the use of technology. “MedLEaPR is a testament to our government’s commitment to Digital India and e-Governance,” she concluded. The Financial Express