Dr Mandaviya inaugurates 7th international conference on ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2022’

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Health and Family Welfare, yesterday said that we are witnessing the rise of a New India and all stakeholders have to ensure that the pharma sector also becomes part of this growth. The government is working on a roadmap of healthcare ecosystem ‘Heal by India and ‘Heal in India.’ This would include providing manpower for treatment to the world along with promoting affordable healthcare in India.

This year, the India pharma is planned around the theme: ‘India Pharma-Vision 2047: Transformative agenda for future.’ For India Medical Device, the theme is ‘Transforming Healthcare through Innovation and Integrated Services.’

Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day (25-27 April, 2022), the ‘7th edition of India Pharma & Indian Medical Device 2022’ organised by the Department of Pharma, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Dr Mandaviya said that the healthcare sector in India is getting both affordable and accessible for everyone. To ensure this, the government is working on increasing the number of doctors, medical institutions, health infrastructure, including hospital, tertiary care centre, health and wellness centre in the country.

The government, he said, is working to provide healthcare facilities in the rural areas of India. The government has already provided health security to more than 10 crore families, he added. He further stressed on the need to increase the consumption of medicines in India and this can be achieved through R&D and innovation in the health sector.

Dr Mandaviya also said that conferences like India Pharma and India Medical Device provide a platform for industry, academia and policymakers to brainstorm and draft a plan for the next 25 years for the sector. He also stated that we are witnessing the rise of a new India and all stakeholders have to ensure that our sector is also part of this growth.

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, and New and Renewable Energy said that we need to focus on R&D and innovation to ensure quality, accessibility and affordability in the Indian pharma and medical device sector. India is the pharma hub in the world with our production being fifth in the world. The government is also working to provide industry-friendly policies, along with ease of doing business, he added.

The Indian medical device sector is currently standing at $11 billion and is likely to reach $50 billion by 2025. He highlighted that currently over 80 per cent of medical devices are imported in India. With R&D and innovation, India will soon produce 80 per cent of medical devices in India, noted Mr Khuba.

VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, said that we need to think how to create the translational research and development pipeline in order to benefit the patients.

S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharma, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, said that as India prepared for Amrit Kaal, it is a moment in time to redesign our aspiration in pharma and medical device sector. We need to build an ecosystem for innovation in medical devices and drugs along with enhancing the industry-academia linkages to the greater extent, she added.

Vishwaprasad Alva, Chair, FICCI Medical Device Committee, and MD, Skanray Technologies, said that the needs of pharma and medical devices sectors are completely different hence medtech requires a separate programme and team. He also stated that India has $30 billion export possibility by 2030 in the medtech sector and $100 billion by 2047.

Gagandeep Singh, Chair, FICCI Pharma Committee, and MD, AstraZeneca said that the efforts of start-up to make sure that healthcare delivery reaches every village can help pharma industry to penetrate even better.

Dr Habil Khorakiwala, Past President, FICCI, and Founder Chairman and Group CEO, Wockhardt, said that there is an urgent need to be in mission mode for our industry so that we can become leader in innovation in the next 25 years. He further stated that in order to become globally competitive, new cost-effective medicines are needed.