Gowda seeks active participation of pharma sector in Ayushman Bharat

Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda Monday sought pharma industry's views on how they can actively contribute to national health protection scheme Ayushman Bharat to improve access to medical care.

Speaking here at the India Pharma and Medical Devices summit 2019, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers also assured government support to the industry to "achieve and maintain leadership position in manufacturing and supply of high quality generic medicines".

India is a leading exporter of affordable generics to many countries, including developing and developed nations and will continue to discharge the responsibilities in this regard.

"We intend to continue formulating plans that are based on sound science, technology, business sense and ethics. We continue to strive to increase the ease of doing business in India for which several measures have already been announced and many others will follow," he said.

The minster said that the summit provided an ideal platform to deliberate upon strategies to help the country innovate and bring newer, affordable and quality therapies to the market.

"I am keen to hear from the industry on how they think they can actively contribute to National Health Protection Scheme, which is the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the world," he said.

Last year in September, the government launched the mega health insurance scheme to provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10 crore poor families.

Gowda said while India would continue to strive to achieve and maintain leadership position in manufacturing and supply of high quality generic medicines, there is also a need to look at ways to improve access to medical care.

The pharmaceutical industry in India was valued at over USD 34 billion in 2017-18 with almost 50:50 share of domestic and export markets, he said adding "it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 per cent in the near future".

Gowda said that in 2017, the industry was "facing steep headwinds on account of lower generic opportunities, rising competition, supplier consolidation and increase in regulatory alerts for Indian pharmaceutical firms".

But, with several corrective measures and improvement in exports, growth seems to be coming back, he added.