New national medical devices policy can usher in three-fold growth of the industry

The National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 will facilitate an orderly growth of the medical device sector. The sector is expected to realise its full potential, with strategies like building an enabling ecosystem for manufacturing, along with focus on innovation, creating a robust and streamlined regulatory framework, providing support in training and capacity building programs and promoting higher education to foster talent and skilled resources in line with the industry requirements

With an ambitious aim to help the growth of medical devices industry from the present $11 billion to $50 billion in the next five years, the Union Cabinet approved the National Medical Devices Policy (NMDP), 2023. It is the much-needed, long awaited direction the domestic medical devices industry has been seeking from the government.

The decision will help fulfil the country’s aspirations to be not only Aatmanirbhar in medical devices but also place India among the top five key suppliers of medical devices. The policy will help boost local manufacturing, help traders and importers to start investing in putting up factories and end the 70-80% import dependency forced upon India and the ever-rising import bill which last year shot up by a steep 41% to over Rs 63,000 crore and make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for common masses worldwide.

The policy is expected to put in place a comprehensive set of focus areas for growth of the sector in a coordinated manner. In view of the diversity and multi-disciplinary nature of the sector, the regulations, skilling, and trade promotion of medical device industry are spread over several departments both at the central and State levels. This has led to a need to bring together the range of interventions in a coherent manner that would facilitate focused and efficient support and facilitation for the sector by the respective agencies.

The National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 will facilitate an orderly growth of the medical device sector and help it to meet the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation. This sector is expected to realise its full potential, with strategies like building an enabling ecosystem for manufacturing, along with focus on innovation, creating a robust and streamlined regulatory framework, providing support in training and capacity building programs and promoting higher education to foster talent and skilled resources in line with the industry requirements. It also looks at encouraging domestic manufacturing of medical devices. The policy has a vision for accelerated growth path with a patient-centric approach and to emerge as the global leader in the manufacturing and innovation of medical devices by achieving 10-12% share in the expanding global market over the next 25 years. It has laid down a roadmap for accelerated growth of the medical devices sector to achieve access and universality, affordability, quality, patient centric quality care, preventive and promotive health, research and innovation and skilled manpower. They will guided by a set of strategies that will cover six broad areas of policy interventions ---regulatory streamlining, enabling infrastructure, facilitating R&D and innovation, attracting investment in the sector, human resources development, and brand positioning and awareness creation.

The policy can boost domestic production of medical devices and reduce the need for imports. Increased domestic production will also result in better local access, affordable prices and a chance to innovate within the medical devices sector of the country, apart from a tremendous employment generation.

In yet another major initiative, the policy envisages the creation of a dedicated Export Promotion Council for the medical devices sector under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which will be an enabler to deal with various market access issues such as initiating studies and projects for learning from best global practices of manufacturing and skilling system so as to explore the feasibility of adapting such successful models in India, and promoting more forums to bring together various stakeholders for sharing knowledge and build strong networks across the sector.

While providing a lucrative picture for the future of the medical devices sector, the policy embodies a framework that promises simultaneous efforts towards the six core focus areas. Definitely, they will provide the required support and directions to strengthen the medical devices industry into a competitive, self-reliant, resilient and innovative industry that caters to the healthcare needs of not only India but also of the world.

(The author is freelance journalist with varied experience in different fields)