AIMED appointed as the member of National Medical Devices Promotion Council

New Delhi: The Indian Medical Devices industry received a major boost with the establishment of National Medical Devices Promotion Council. Through the Council, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has decided to strengthen the Indian medical devices sector and make India an export driven market in the sector.

Now, in a latest news, the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has been appointed as a member of the Council. Reacting on the development, Mr Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) stated, “We are delighted and in high spirits to be a part of the newly established National Medical Devices Promotion Council.  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.

Mr Nath whole heartedly thanked Mr Suresh P 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.

Mr Nath also expressed his gratitude to Mr Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health and Family Welfare, for announcing the need for review for the following 3 key strategies during the WHO Global Forum for Medical Devices.

These include the need to provide reasonable protection to Domestic Industry with 15% to 20% import duty as done for mobile phone; need to have a separate medical device law and while that goes through a lengthy legislative process, to use BIS act & Rule as an interim solution to regulate all Medical Devices at one go, for ensuring patient safety; need to protect patients from being fleeced by exorbitant 1000% – 3000% mark up on MRP on Medical Devices and to bring in a 75% Rational Trade Margin Cap over Import Landed Price and Ex-Factory Price.

“We do acknowledge the role played by the various news articles in last few days that has helped to bring focus to this long neglected Indian medical devices sector and help accelerate the process of establishing Medical Devices Development Council by DIPP. We wholeheartedly thank Secretary DIPP, Mr Ramesh Abhishek for responding to the needs of Indian Medical Devices industry” added Mr Nath.

Mr Nath further pointed out that the way Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) was successful in promoting the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, we are similarly hopeful that Medical Devices Development Council 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 (10 Billion $).

“We are glad that the government is taking serious steps to make India a global robust hub for medical devices manufacturing and fulfilling Govt’s ambitious mission of making quality healthcare affordable for common masses,” concluded Mr Rajiv Nath.