Govt plans to set up medical devices parks to boost indigenous production

With its intention to make India a manufacturing hub for medical devices, the Government is planning to set up medical devices parks in the country, with the first park scheduled to be built in Gujarat. Cluster model can be an important step to bolster domestic production, as only 30% of the country’s requirement of medical devices (that too of low end category) is being met through indigenous production. “The government is taking several steps to boost the domestic production of high end medical devices & pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment,” said Ananth Kumar, minister of chemicals and fertilizers, while releasing the recommendations of the task force on ‘Promotion of domestic production of high end medical devices & pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment’ on April 8, 2015 in New Delhi.
 
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Ahmedabad, will be the nodal institute for undertaking research and development in the area.
 
Stating that the recommendations made by the Task force will be implemented in a time bound manner, Ananth Kumar said, “The Department has already taken up issues of incentives and taxation on such devices with the finance ministry so that the indigenously produced medical devices can compete with the imported ones. Need is being felt to have a separate department to handle the issues of facilitation and regulation of high end medical devices & pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, as their consumption is increasing very fast and there is need to make India self-dependent in the sector. On the lines of National List of Essential Medicines, there should be a National List of Essential Medical Devices to enable providing affordable, quality products to masses easily.”
 
Medical devices’ industry is a multi-product industry, producing wide range of products. Taking all the products category of medical devices together, India is importing around 69 percent of its total requirement. The imports of high-end medical devices are much higher, going up to around 87% for the category of medical electronics, hospital equipment and surgical instruments.
 
In view of the prevailing scenario, the Task Force on ‘Promotion of domestic production of high-end medical devices and pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment’ was set up by the department of pharmaceuticals as an initiative to implement the PM’s visions of ‘Make in India’. The task force - headed by secretary, department of pharmaceuticals - consisted representatives from Planning Commission, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Department of Health Research, DCGI, Department of Commerce, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Department of Electronics and Information Technology and various industry associations including AIMED, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, FOPE, etc.
 
The task force has given recommendations to address concerns and constraints facing the sector and suggested measures that would augment domestic production of medical devices. In addition, the task force has also recommended measures for creating an institutional set-up for efficacy & safety testing, promoting skill development aligned to the need of the industry, strengthening the R&D capability of the sector, pricing strategy for the sector and conducive regulatory environment.