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The centrally sponsored scheme for strengthening of medical devices industry (SMDI), launched by the Central government last week, was widely welcomed by the medical devices industry in the country.
The Rs. 500-crore scheme will help the domestic players in the medical equipment industry to restart manufacturing and even become exporters and will provide the much needed fillip to address the skill shortage problem in the industry, said Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD), the umbrella association of Indian manufacturers of medical devices.
Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI), which represents leading research-based medical technology companies with investments in manufacturing, R&D, and healthcare worker training in India, said that the scheme would benefit both startups and established companies and will leverage both local and global currents.
"We are delighted with the announcement made by minister for chemicals and fertilizers J P Nadda for giving impetus to manufacturing of medical devices. The domestic players who had become traders and importers and shifted to pseudo manufacturing will now be again motivated to become actual manufacturers and produce complete products and their components in house," said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMeD.
The domestic industry had become mere traders and resorted to pseudo manufacturing due to the prevalent market compulsions and harsh realities, said AiMeD.
The Budgetary allocation announced by the government this scheme may seem small and humble but this is ground breaking strategy will have a multiplier impact and it is a clever leverage to move the Indian Elephant in the direction to achieve Prime Minister's vision to make India the leading hub of medical devices manufacturing globally, as announced in the national medical devices policy to 2023, added Nath.
The current export of medical devices from India stands at USD 3.7 billion, making India the fourth largest market in Asia. The current market size is $14 billion but the Medtech scheme introduced by the government will help the Indian manufacturers to seize the potential to achieve a market size of $20 billion by 2026-2027.
Pavan Choudary, chairman, Medical Technology Association of India, said, "The medical device industry stands to gain significantly from this inclusive scheme, which would benefit both startups and established companies and will leverage both local and global currents".
"The industry promotion stimulus will pave the way for vitally important market research and marketing of the industry to the world," he added.
The scheme, launched after comprehensive research that included two groundbreaking stackathons, serves as a fine example of an evidence-based stimulation package.
The efforts helped in identifying key areas where the industry needs support. This is where the scheme derives its focus on five critical aspects: manufacturing of essential components and accessories, skill development, support for clinical studies, development of shared infrastructure, and industry promotion, added Choudary.
Union ministry for chemicals and fertilisers has launched the scheme for strengthening of medical device industry with an initial outlay of Rs. 500 crore for three years from 2024-25 to 2026-27, on November 8, in order to support the growth of the medical devices industry in the country.
The scheme is a comprehensive scheme which targets critical areas of the medical device industry, covering manufacturing of key components and accessories, skill development, support for clinical studies, development of common infrastructure and industry promotion.
The scheme include five sub-schemes - Common facilities for medical devices clusters with a financial outlay of Rs. 110 crore, Marginal investment scheme for reducing import dependence (Rs. 180 crore), Capacity building and skill development for medical devices (Rs. 100 crore), Medical device clinical studies support scheme (Rs. 100 crore), and Medical device promotion scheme (Rs. 10 crore).
AiMeD said that the domestic medical devices manufacturing industry can offer really cost-effective and innovative products for both domestic and overseas markets. The medical devices manufacturing industry now comprises a wide range of products like consumables, disposables and even high-end diagnostic and therapeutic devices. The key segments of the product portfolio of the domestic manufacturing industry includes diagnostic imaging, consumables, patient aids, dental products and orthopaedic implants.
The growth of exports of medical devices by India has started to supersede the growth of imports. The annual growth rate of exports of medical equipment and devices for the last three years stands at an impressive 13.8 per cent while the yearly growth rate of imports has fallen to -2.08 per cent in the same time period.
With this new scheme, the domestic manufacturers can even achieve a market size of $50 billion by the year 2030, added Aimed.
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