Introduction
Medtech in India is a very important situation, secure for significant changes and growth. As the country wants to enhance its healthcare and also wants to reduce its dependence on imports. It’s important to balance patient safety, affordability and accessibility, while advancing domestic manufacturing and innovation, remains a main focus. This discussion gets into the Medtech industry concerns, policy demands, and its vision for the future.
Mr. Himanshu Baid, Chairman, CII Medical Technology Committee shared his opinion and vision about the same
Q. You mentioned the reuse of medical equipment. How do you see that?
A. “I think what we seeing refurbished equipment coming to India, and I think there one sector of industry. Which is the domestic industry, which is manufacturing in India. They are saying that reuse should not be there in the country. Reuse equipment should not brought into the country because it could harm patient safety. On the other hand, there is another lobby which is saying, “No, we need to reduce the cost of equipment, and bring reuse equipment so that we can improve accessibility and affordability in tier 3 and tier 4 cities.”
Now, it’s a very different, fine, delicate balance. But what we are saying as industry CII is that we need to bring a balance to this. First of all, look at patient safety. Without compromising, you know, you can’t compromise on patient safety. So, whatever brought into India, there should be a good, residual life. And we are saying that only the original OEM (original equipment manufacturer) should bring that equipment. So that, They held responsible for their quality, for their maintenance, and then their residual shelf life.
Secondly, wherever we have sufficient capacity in India for the equipment, then they should not be allowed to re-imported into the country. & third, In the refurbished space we also seeing that small importers, traders are bringing equipment, and then they are selling to hospitals, and the patient is not aware whether they are being treated on refurbished equipment or new equipment, and what kind of cost is being paid.
So, that concern we also want to eliminate & may be some special tagging or labeling is there on the refurbished equipment, and the government should come out with a phase manufacturing program. After a few years, we will not allow refurbished equipment, but bring a phase manufacturing program, and give a special incentive to industry which wants to bring in manufacturing, so that for the next 3 to 5 years, we are self-sufficient to make those equipment in India.”
Qus:- what are your key demands and priorities for this?
Ans:- “I think, policy is very important and the government should engage with the industry to make the policy and bring all sections of industry to make this policy, and also patient advocacy groups should be also part of this policy making, so that they are fully aware of what is being used on the patients, and whether any compromise is done for patient safety. so this is what we want, and from the government. Also, the second big concern is reuse of consumables inside the hospitals. So, how can we prevent that, or can we make a policy around that, how can we educate patients around that? How do we educate users around that? The users are also using those products, so when they should stop using it, when they should not use it, how and when they should use these kinds of products. So, this is what we are also concerned about, as patient safety. And because a lot of devices which industry today sells, is single-use devices or single-use. So, they cannot be used for second or third or fourth or multiple reuse. So, how do we prevent that? I think we have to engage more deeply with the regulators, the government, with the hospitals, so that we can frame a policy around that.”
Qus:- what are your budget expectations?
Ans:- “From the budget, I think, two big expectations we have: one is extension of the PLI scheme to more products, and the government should allocate more budget because this is the right time for India, because of the tariffs which we are seeing on our neighboring countries, we can take advantage of that. And we can extend the PLI and bring more products under PLI, so that this industry gets a leg up and can grow faster.
Second is on the export side, it’s a great opportunity for India, and instead of getting that 0.5%, 0.6% raw tab incentive, can we get into 2.5%, so that whatever disadvantages we have in manufacturing in India, at least we get a leg up & we can invest this money back in R&D, in, you know, let’s say product development and fast track our exports.”
Qus:- How do you see the transformation of the MedTech industry in another five years?
Ans:- “I think our import dependence will reduce from 60-70% to 30-40% in the next 5 to 7 years. And as part of the Viksit Bharat 2047 program, I would like to see India exporting $100 billion of medical devices and equipment, you know, in the next 10 to 25 years. That is what my vision is for the industry, and we are at $4 billion right now. We have moved in pre-covid from $2 billion to $4 billion in 5 years. It’s great progress. Now, I think every 5 years we should double up. That’s what my expectations are.”
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Conclusion
The Medtech industry in India collected at an important point,with great opportunities to have self – reliance, innovation and global competitiveness. It’s important to balance affordability, accessibility and patient safety and remains the main point as the sector works to reduce import dependency. Industry leaders like Mr. Himanshu Baid highlights the importance of collaborative policymaking involving stakeholders from across, including patient advocacy groups.
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