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Govt approves medical device policy with five fold growth plans in 5 years

The union cabinet has approved the policy for the medical devices sector and six strategies have been planned to tap the potential of the sector with the implementation action plan. The policy is expected to help the medical devices sector grow from present 11 billion dollar to 50 billion dollar in next five years. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It is to be noted that the medical devices sector in India is an essential and integral constituent of the Indian healthcare sector, hence a policy to maximize the potential of the sector is needed, especially in the wake of the continuing Covid pandemic. Here, the contribution of the Indian medical devices sector becomes even more prominent. India strengthened its domestic and global battle against Covid-19 pandemic through the large scale production of medical devices and diagnostic kits.

Seeing the immense growth prospects of the sector, the medical devices industry is considered a sunrise sector in the country, which is growing at a fast pace. The market size of the medical devices sector in India is estimated to be 11 billion dollar in 2020, however its share in the global medical device market is estimated to be just 1.5%.

Hence, the Government of India thought to bring in a policy to expand and speed up the sector. Though, the sector is already on a growth track and has an enormous potential to become self-reliant. It may also contribute towards the goal of universal health care.

To scale up the sector, the government has already initiated implementation of PLI scheme for medical devices and support for setting up of 4 medical devices parks in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Under the PLI scheme, till now, a total of 26 projects have been approved for the sector with a committed investment of Rs.1206 crore and out of this, so far, an investment of Rs.714 crore has been achieved.

The government has informed that under the PLI scheme, total of 14 projects producing 37 products have been commissioned and domestic manufacturing of high-end medical devices has started, which include Linear Accelerator, MRI Scan, CT-Scan, Mammogram, C-Arm, MRI Coils, high end X-ray tubes, etc. Remaining 12 products are expected to be commissioned in the near future. Moreover, five projects out of total 26 projects, have been approved recently under category B. They are meant for domestic manufacturing of 87 products or product components. Building upon these measures, a holistic policy framework to accelerate this growth and fulfill the potential of the sector is the need of the hour.

The current policy aims to put in place a comprehensive set of focus areas for growth of the sector in a coordinated manner. Secondly, in view of the diversity and multi-disciplinary nature of the sector, the regulations, skilling trade promotion of the medical device industry are spread over several departments in the government both at the Centre and state levels. The new policy is expected to facilitate an orderly growth of the medical device sector to meet the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation.

With the new policy in place, the sector is expected to realize its full potential with the strategies like- building an enabling ecosystem for manufacturing along with a focus on innovation, creating a robust and streamlined regulatory framework, providing support in training and capacity building programs and promoting higher education to foster talent and skilled resources in line with the industry requirements. Encouraging domestic investments and production of medical devices complements the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ programs.

The policy is expected to strengthen the medical devices industry to become a more competitive, self-reliant, resilient and innovative industry that caters to the healthcare needs of not only India but also of the world.

 

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