The Global ICU Beds Market Will Double In Size To Deal With The Surge In Covid-19 Patients

The global ICU beds market is expected to grow from $1.9 billion in 2019 to about $3.8 billion in 2020, as hospitals across the globe are increasing their Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity to deal with the surge in Covid-19 patients. The market is expected to stabilize and reach $2.8 billion through 2023, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8%.

The frequent outbreaks of pandemic diseases such as Influenza, Ebola, and the recent Covid-19, has put enormous pressure on healthcare authorities and health services to draft and discuss preparedness plans that include the increase in number of ICU beds, to accommodate critically ill patients. During pandemics, most patients require ICU admission and this drives the market for ICU beds. Even in most well-developed countries, ICU beds are often close to capacity during such out-breaks. In the United States, there are an estimated 34.2 ICU beds per 10,000 people, and there was a surge in demand during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In Italy, there are about 12.5 ICU beds per 10,000 of intensive care beds. Due to the recent outbreak, with the rate of increase in the number of patients with corona virus in intensive care, the number of ICU beds requirement continues to change. In China and India, it is only 3.6 and 2.3 per 10,000 respectively, and the demand in such developing countries is huge. Patients with severe COVID-19 disease require approximately 14 days of respiratory support in ICU. Such lengthy treatment time will further stress resources. Therefore, the frequent outbreaks of pandemics are expected to drive the global ICU beds market.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds market is segmented by type into electric beds, semi-electric beds, and manual beds. It is also segmented by application into pediatric intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit, psychiatric intensive care unit, cardiac intensive care unit, neurological intensive care unit, trauma intensive care unit, post-operative recovery unit, surgical intensive care unit, and mobile intensive care unit.

Critical care is often described as expensive care that includes high cost of resources. In the United States, although ICU beds comprise less than 10% of hospital beds, ICU departments consume 22% of total hospital costs. ICU beds tend to cost threefold higher than a bed in a general ward. ICU beds cost between $25,000 and $30,000, significantly more than other medical/surgical beds, which typically cost $5,000 to $10,000 a bed. Bariatric beds are even more expensive, which are nearly about $35,000 to $40,000 each. The escalating demand for critical care services put financial strain on both health care systems, and also on patients, who pay completely or partially out-of-pockets for these services. Therefore, high prices of ICU beds are a restraint on the growth of the ICU beds market.