NEW DELHI : India’s medical technology sector has a potential to reach 50 USD billion by 2025, Dr Jintendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Earth Sciences said on Thursday. He was speaking at the 13th edition of the Global MedTech Summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
“India has the technology; expertise and it has a huge potential to be explored indigenously which will serve the medical fraternity and also be in tune with our goals of becoming Aatmanirbhar.” Moving forward “we have to integrate all the ministries, and undertake theme-based projects, rather than ministry or department-based projects,” said Singh.
“This will allow us to pool our resources and help us reach optimum outcomes with the integration of the private sector and start-ups.” India has the best of medical management available in the best centres in India, both private and public, and is equally comparable to western centres that have started earlier,” he said.
Department of Commerce, in consultation with all stakeholders has set a target of 400 billion dollars of merchandise exports by 2021-22 and increasing it to USD 1 trillion in the next 6 years.
“India still has a high degree of import dependence with 85% of the market is imported; this impinges on our healthcare goals of access and affordability. Towards this, the government launched the PLI schemes. A strong innovation ecosystem must also support start-ups, with a focus on innovation that meets patient needs and reduces lifetime costs,” S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.
“Indian medical device sector should leapfrog to futuristic technologies, growing trends in telemedicine, digital medicine, personalized devices, as we have in India a happy confluence of a strong IT sector,” she said.
Medical devices industries said that the there is a massive under-penetration of medical devices in the market, and there is indeed a growth opportunity of the sector.
“There is an urgent need to globally harmonize in terms of regulation and quality standards so that the indigenous industry can match up to global standards and make the country a hub for medical device manufactures for internal consumption and exports. There is a need for a well-defined National devices medical policy document and roadmap defining short, medium and long term goals for the sector,” Himanshu Baid, Chairman, CII NMTF & Managing Director, Poly Medicure Ltd.
Global MedTech Summit is spread over two days from 02 September to 03 September. This summit showcases the achievements of the medical technology sector and brings together the think-tank for acute deliberations and discussions on the various facets of the sector. The plenary sessions of the summit seek to deliberate on important matters such as Demand Generation as a means of Triggering the Growth of Medtech Sector, Diagnostic Testing in India and the need to re-examine Current Practices, Protocols and Reimbursements; review of Futuristic Technologies driving innovative Medical Technology and exploring our country’s readiness, Evidence based policy making and its impact and finally review of the Regulatory Landscape for Medical Devices and Diagnostics in India.
Source: livemint.com
