Stakeholders must contribute in drafting a 25 year plan for pharma & medtech: Dr Mansukh Mandaviya

New Delhi: “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,” stated Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, & Health and Family Welfare.

Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day (25-27 April 2022), ‘7th edition of India Pharma & Indian Medical Device 2022’ organized by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & 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,” Minister said while highlighting that government has provided health security to over 10 crore families.

Dr Mandaviya 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.

Complementing the Indian industry in the overall COVID management, Dr Mandaviya said that conferences like India Pharma and India Medical Device provide a platform for industry, academia and policy makers to brainstorm and draft a plan for the next 25 years for the sector.

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers & New and Renewable Energy, Govt of India said, “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 5th in the world. The government is also working to provide industry friendly policies along with ease of doing business.”

Khuba stated that 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 percent of medical devices are imported in India.

With R&D, innovation, India will soon produce 80 percent of medical devices in India, noted 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 Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt of India said that as India prepared for Amrit Kaal, it is a moment in time to redesign our aspiration in pharmaceutical and medical device sector. We need to build an ecosystem for innovation in medical devices and drugs along with enhance 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, AstraZenca said that the efforts of start-up to make sure that healthcare delivery reaches every village can help pharmaceutical industry to penetrate even better.

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

Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India also shared his perspective on the Indian Pharma and Medica Device sector.

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 & Integrated Services’.