Success of any industry depends on its growing brand value, similarly Medtech industry has to strive for making a global brand”, said Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry who graced the Inaugural Session at the CII 11th Medical Technology Conference held today at New Delhi. Indigenous innovation which can reduce expenses and cost of manufacturing will help Medtech industry in Make-in India. This can also be taken as an opportunity to push for in-house manufacturing of medical equipment along with paving way for exports. This will be the most viable way of bringing down the medical expenses substantially. Currently, we are importing almost 70 percent of the medical equipment used in the country. With rolling down of Ayushman Bharat, the export numbers will reduce which requires massive investment in the industry.
Dr. Naresh Trehan, Managing Director of Medanta Medicity and Chairman of CII Healthcare Council spoke about how important Ayushman Bharat has been towards bringing uniformity in the reach of medical services. He applauded the noble initiative of Swachh Bharat and its contribution towards better health care indicators. He added, through Ayushman Bharat, healthcare would percolate to the last mile addressing the health issues during its preliminary stages. He also mentioned that in addition to catering to the healthcare of the public, Ayushman Bharat also provides tremendous opportunities for the Medical technology industry. He added that India has all the resources required to build it into a Medtech hub and we should explore the opportunity through encouraging investment in our country rather than importing medical technologies.
The 11th Medical Technology Conference was held on the 28th of September celebrating the decade of government and industry partnership. Mr. Himanshu Baid opened the session by apprising the participants with the latest advancement in the status of Ayushman Bharat which has been an awaited scheme claiming to provide health services at Rs. 1200 per family. He also discussed the achievements of the Meditech Industry in the recent years and the issues and challenges still hindering the growth of the sector. The panel discussed on how Ayushman Bharat has made medical services inclusive, accessible and affordable by the underprivileged in the most remote areas of the country along with providing immense opportunities of growth to the medical technology market in the country.
Mr. Suresh Vazrani also emphasized on the importance of in-house manufacturing and stressed on pushing for schemes which would benefit the Indian Medtech Industry.
The day long program also had discussions on new innovative technologies launched to mitigate issues related to cardiology, cancer, discussions on the future of healthcare industry and use of robotics and artificial intelligence for diagnosis and treatment. Also discussed were issues of quality of manufacturing and importance of research and development and regulations which can make and mar the Medtech industries’ growth.