Overview

Public hospitals are free in Mauritius, but there are also several private clinics.  Mauritius’s healthcare infrastructure includes five major regional public hospitals, two public district hospitals, and seven specialized hospitals, including one psychiatric hospital; one for chest diseases; one for eye diseases; one for ear, nose, and throat diseases; two cardiac centers; and a new cancer hospital.  The country also has 18 private clinics and hospitals and 59 medical laboratories.  At the end of 2020, there were 4,496 beds in both public and private facilities.  In 2021, Mauritius imported $39 million worth of medical equipment, mainly from China (15 percent), the United States (15 percent), India (11 percent), Germany (10 percent), Ireland (8 percent), and South Africa (7 percent).  In 2021, Mauritius exported $42 million worth of medical equipment, mainly to France (48 percent) and India (38 percent).  5 percent of 2021 exports were to the United States.  As of 2022, there were seven medical device manufacturers in Mauritius, employing about 800 people.

(Total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports)
Units: $ thousands
Data Source:  i) Statistics Mauritius, ii) Economic Development Board, iii) Embassy Estimates for 2021

Leading Sub-Sector

• Cancer Center Equipment
• Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) Hospital Equipment
• Eye Hospital Equipment
• Medical Imaging (MRI, CT and X-Ray) and Diagnostic Equipment
• Surgical Equipment
• Orthopedics Supplies and Artificial Parts of the Body
• Dialysis Equipment
• Laboratory Equipment
• Dental Surgery and Dentofacial Orthopedics
• Healthcare IT Solutions

Opportunities

Mauritius has a well-developed health system.  About 73 percent of the health needs of the population are catered by public health institutions and 27 percent by the private sector.  Non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases, accounted for 68 percent of total mortality in Mauritius in 2020.

A new ear, nose, and throat (ENT) hospital was inaugurated in October 2019, with funding of approximately $23 million from the Indian government. In February 2021, a new cancer hospital was inaugurated, with a capacity of 180 beds.  Health infrastructure projects that are currently in progress include construction of a teaching hospital, phase 2 of the new cancer hospital (expected to be fully operational in 2023), an eye hospital, area health centers, and mediclinics.  Upcoming projects include the construction of a warehouse for pharmaceutical products and medical equipment, a renal transplant unit, and a national laboratory services center. These projects are expected to generate greater demand for various medical equipment and software.  The Ministry of Health’s 2022-2025 National Cancer Control Program provides for procurement of cancer medicines and treatment equipment, including new linear accelerators.   In the 2022-2023 budget, the finance minister announced commitment of Rs 2.5 billion (approximately $56 million) for several health infrastructure projects, including completion of the new cancer center by December 2022, completion of the new Flacq hospital by June 2023, four fertility clinics, a new hemodialysis unit, and the acquisition of lithotripsy machines, digital x-ray machines, and a CT scanner.  Bids related to these projects are expected to be issued later this year.  

In the past few years, the Mauritian government has promoted shifts in the healthcare sector to develop high-value activities such as hi-tech medicine, medical tourism, and medical education.  In 2018, the most recent statistics available, Mauritius attracted more than 12,500 foreign patients for treatment in specialty areas such as cosmetic surgery and procedures, imaging, cardiology, fertility treatment, and ENT.  The main source countries are Madagascar, France, Reunion, and Comoros.  The next medical tourism survey will be completed by March 2023.

There are potential opportunities for establishing:

• Specialized diabetes research and treatment centers
• Specialized centers for elderly care and rehabilitative medicine
• Plastic reconstructive surgery clinics
• Clinics specializing in sports medicine  
• Wellness centers and health resorts for rehabilitation  
• Telemedicine
• Clinics for dental surgery and dentofacial orthopedics
• Convalescence and pain clinics providing specialized care to patients suffering from acute and chronic conditions

The medical device manufacturing industry has also seen sustained growth over the last few years.  Due to the preferential market access that Mauritius enjoys with the EU, leading medical device manufacturers (mostly from France and Germany) have established operations here.  The main items manufactured in Mauritius for exports include angioplasty catheters, stents, cardiovascular and oncology implants, artificial skin, ophthalmic implants, bone implants and substitutes, orthopedic implants, and dental implants.  To attract more medical device manufacturing companies, the government offers various incentives, including tax holidays for eight years, a three percent corporate tax on profits derived from exports, a value-added tax on raw materials reimbursable on exports, an investment tax credit of fifteen percent over three years for investment in hi-tech machinery, and air and sea freight rebates for exports.

The government introduced further incentives in 2021 to encourage the construction of factories for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing and clinical and preclinical trials.  For example, developers are exempted from the registration duty, land transfer tax, land conversion tax, and VAT on construction.  Companies engaged in the manufacture of medical devices and pharmaceuticals also benefit from a premium investor certificate, as well as a full tax credit on the costs of acquisition of patents for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Companies engaged in the medical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are taxed at 3 percent instead of 15 percent.