Harmonization of standards, AI & technology, supply chain growth key for India-US healthcare partnership

New Delhi: India and the US need to enhance efforts towards harmonization of standards, deployment and adoption of new technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and enhance of supply chains bring in a new era in the bilateral ties of India and the US and the global healthcare space, said sector experts speaking at the 22nd Indo-US Economic Summit organized by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).

Highlighting that both the countries have a robust partnership in this key area, the speakers said that the unique experience of both the countries would prove to be complementary and beneficial to each other.

Dr Suneela Garg, Excellence Community-Medicine, Chairperson, Programme Advisory Committee & Member Governing Council, NIHFW was of the digital healthcare services, biotechnology and preparedness for pandemics are key areas where the bilateral relations would play an important role

“We do have Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. We cannot move if we do not have a database, the details of our demography. Now we are talking of our elderly population, after some time, when we talk of 2030-2050 onwards, we will have almost 30% of the people who are going to be elderly. This is where again the Indo-US partnership is playing a very important role, then biotechnology and another important area is pandemic preparedness,” she said.

Dr Upasana Arora, Executive Vice President, IACC & Managing Director, Yashoda SS Hospitals also emphasized on the need for enrolment under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission for a comprehensive growth in India’s healthcare space.

Further, according to Dr V. Kalaiselvan, Secretary and Scientific Director at the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) the healthcare sector would witness a collaborative approach by the both the countries.

Noting that Indian Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission is mandated to set up standards for all medicines in the country, Dr Kalaiselvan said “When it comes to standard setting process, standards of Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission are globally accepted now. About 18 countries have included India Pharmacopoeia in their countries’ respective act or rule. When it comes to the US, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission is working closely with three organizations, United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), then US FDA and Pharmacopoeia Discussion Group. This is a very important initiative across the globe 45 countries developing their own pharmacopoeia. Among all the pharmacopoeia, there is the Pharmacopoeia Discussion Group. We need to harmonize the standards, including individual monographs or general chapters for them.”

Similarly, Prof. Ravi Bhatnagar, Communications and Corporate Affairs, Director, South Asia MENARP and Africa, Reckitt Benckiser Ltd stressed on the need for regulatory harmonization.

Speaking on the enhancement of supply chain resilience, Prof Bhatnagar said: “We have seen it during the Covid, how India provided Covid vaccines to the world. We also need to be mindful about the supply chains that there should not be any disruptions. A lot of effort needs to be put on global health security.”

Dr Sanjeev Singh, Medical Director, Amrita Institute of Medical Faridabad and Chief of Medical Services Amrita Kochi alsostressed on the need cross-learning among healthcare professionals, policy makers in both the countries.

He also highlighted the fact that given that cost of treatment is significantly higher in the US, India can play a key role in helping the world’s largest economy lowering the cost of healthcare. “We have the talent, we have the competency and the skill sets, and we provide it at very affordable rate,” Dr Singh said.

Dr Arora, Executive Vice President, IACC was also of the view that as India imports key healthcare equipment from the US, India doctors and researchers are playing a key role in the global healthcare space including in the US.