Dr. VK Paul to inaugurate MTaI MedTekon 2018

NITI Aayog Member Dr. Vinod K. Paul will inaugurate MTaI MedTekon 2018 in New Delhi on September 20, as industry leaders come together to envision the role of the MedTech industry in the implementation of Ayushman Bharat, formally known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).

Dr. Paul is the Head of Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, since 1985. He has been closely associated with India's reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health programs in various roles for over three decades.

He has been a member of the NITI Aayog since August last year.

The seminar will also be attended by Indu Bhushan, Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission and National Health Agency (NHA), along with representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Alliance of Patients' Group, Insurance companies, PE Funds, private hospitals and diagnostic industry.

Foreign delegates will share the global experience of implementing similar healthcare programmes in their countries. The former undersecretary, Department of Health, Government of Philippines, Dr. Teodoro J Herbosa, who played a key role in rolling out the Philippines Public Healthcare Programme has also confirmed his presence to share his country's experience with the policymakers of India.

This is the first seminar where representatives from the entire medical technology sector will be present to talk about Ayushman Bharat, which indicates the importance the MedTech industry attaches to this pathbreaking programme.

Industry captains from different MedTech associations will huddle together to plan how they can unitedly contribute to the successful implementation of Ayushman Bharat.

The government is launching Ayushman Bharat on September 25 to finance secondary and tertiary healthcare in the country. The scheme will provide health insurance worth Rs. 5 lakh per household and will cover 50 crore people or nearly 40 per cent of India's population.

During MTaI MedTekon 2018, MTaI will unveil a theme paper entitled "MedTech - The Keystone for Ayushman Bharat" that would define the challenges and opportunities in implementing the scheme.

"Ayushman Bharat is the largest public healthcare scheme in the world. Given the scale of implementation, it is extremely important that all stakeholders should be in sync with the programme objective and implementation roadmap. At the same time, it is necessary that concerns of all stakeholders are addressed. MTaI MedTekon 2018 will bring together all stakeholders for a day of constructive discussion," said MedTekon Chairman Badhri Iyengar.