The Minister was speaking
at the fourth WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices here
on Friday at the Andhra Pradesh
Medtech Zone.
He said the medical
devices industry (MDI) will play a key role in the
healthcare ecosystem and “is indispensable in
achieving the goal of health for all citizens of
the country. The manufacturing and trade in MDs
is growing steadily”.
Prabhu said the national
council will give a boost to domestic manufacturing
and for exports. He said both the start-ups and MSMEs
will also play a crucial role in the sector.
The National Medical
Devices Promotion Council (NMDPC) has appointed the
Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD)
as a member of the Council.
AiMeD has designated
forum coordinator Rajiv Nath to represent it to the
Council.
Elated Rajiv Nath said,
“We are delighted and in high spirits to be a part of
the newly established NMDPC.
AiMeD had been seeking a council for the development
of Indian medical devices for
quite some time. We look forward to new opportunities
to contribute in nation
building by building a strong Indian medical device
industry which is of utmost
importance to address our national healthcare security
concerns & economy.”
Nath thanked Suresh
Prabhu, minister of commerce and industry for his
encouraging offer to open a National Design Council
and GEM Technical Centre at Kalam Institute of
Healthcare Technology.
The NMDPC will strengthen
the Indian medical devices sector by facilitating
domestic manufacturers to rise to international level
and discouraging unfair trade practices in import and
lead India to an export driven market in the sector.
Nath further pointed out
that the way Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council
of India (Pharmexcil) was successful in promoting the
Indian pharmaceutical industry, we are similarly
hopeful that NMDPC will help realise our vision for
India to be among the top 5 medical devices
manufacturing hubs worldwide as the Council will
spearhead the policy needs to accelerate the
manufacturing of medical devices in India and end the
70-90% import dependence forced upon us and an import
bill of over Rs. 31,000 crore. The Indian market at
retail and institutional level is estimated to be at
over Rs. 70,000 crore (US$ 10 billion).
“We are glad government
is taking serious steps to make India a global robust
hub for medical devices manufacturing and fulfilling
government's ambitious mission of making quality
healthcare affordable for common masses,” concluded
Nath.
The Prime objectives of
the National Medical Devices Promotion Council are :
-
Act as a facilitating and promotion and
developmental body for the Indian medical devices
industry.
-
Hold periodic seminars, workshops to deliberate on
various parameters for inclusion in the industrial
and trade policies in medical devices.
-
Identify redundant processes and render technical
assistance to the agencies/departments concerned in
order to simplify the approval processes involved in
medical device industry promotion and development.
-
Enable entry of emerging interventions and support
certifications for manufacturers to reach levels of
global trade norms and lead India to an export
driven market in the sector.
-
Support dissemination and documentation of
international norms and standards for medical
devices, by capturing the best practices in the
global market and facilitate domestic manufacturers
to rise to international level of understanding of
regulatory and non-regulatory needs of the industry.
-
Drive a robust and dynamic Preferential Market
Access (PMA) policy, by identifying the strengths of
the Indian manufacturers and discouraging unfair
trade practices in import; while ensuring pro-active
monitoring of public procurement notices across
Indian to ensure compliance with PMA guidelines of
DIPP/DoP.
-
Undertake validation of Limited Liability
Partnerships (LLPs) and other such entities within
MDI sector, which add value to the industry strength
in manufacturing to gain foothold for new entrants.
-
Make recommendations to government based on industry
feedback and global practices on policy and process
interventions to strengthen the medical technology
sector including trade interventions for related
markets.
"Time has come for the
medical technology sector to have an exclusive
promotion council that will safeguard the interests of
the patients, industry and all stakeholders," said
Himanshu Baid, Chairman of the CII Medical Technology
Division (CII MTD) in a statement.
He said that this council
will provide anchorage and an environment for
conducive growth for this sector.
"We are looking forward
to seeing strong Indian presence in the global medtech
map in the next few years," he added.
CII MTD is an industry
association comprising of over 50 major domestic and
global medical device companies.
The council is aimed at
boosting manufacturing, attract investments and
promote exports of the fast-growing sector.
(Ref :
www.thehindubusinessline.com /
www.pharmabiz.com/
www.medicalbuyer.co.in /
www.moneycontrol.com ) |