Can medical devices go from 80% imports to surplus?

An emergency, like Covid19, has made India selfsufficient in products like sanitisers, PPE kits, facemasks and ventilators in less than three months. If the country shows the same urgency and zeal in becoming self-sufficient in medical devices, it can achieve the goal in one or two years.

Currently, 80 per cent of the demand for medical devices in India is met through imports. China accounts for one-third of the imports. Further, several multinational companies supplying in India get their products manufactured in China.

"Indian medical devices market is valued Rs 45,000 crore-Rs 50,000 crore. The ratio between import and domestic production is 80:20 and this can be reversed if there is a clear policy in place," said G. S. K. Velu, chairman and managing director of Trivitron Healthcare, a medical devices company.

Covid-19 saw the market scaling up its production capacity to meet the demand. Similarly, if there is demand for Made in India products in government hospitals and private hospitals, manufacturers will scale up their production.

According to Pavan Choudary, chairman and director general of Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI), Make in India products should be competitive on quality as well as cost.

"Quality is a sine qua non for sustaining success in the market as well as for determining the acceptance of other products which will emerge from Indian factories in the future. Make in India should include designing innovative solutions locally through a strong R&D to meet our needs, and commercialising these into reliable products," Choudary said.

Velu feels that in order to achieve this, India needs to have a quality certification and validation programme of its own.

"We do not have to depend on the US or EU certification for our products. All the products entering the country as well as those made in India should mandatorily have this certification. A separate regulator and promoter should be set up for the medical devices industry and this regulator should bring in the validation standards," he said.

If the Indian certification is valid enough, hospitals will not find the products made in the country inferior in quality compared to those imported. The hospitals-both government and private ones--will start buying them rather than importing the devices.

In order to boost manufacturing, the government had recently announced a Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the sector. Under the Rs 3,420-crore scheme, a 5 per cent incentive on incremental sales over base year 2019-20 will be provided on certain segments of medical devices. Further, the government will also promote Medical Device Parks in partnership with the states.

According to Velu, the manufacturers are not very enthusiastic about the PLI scheme as some of the conditions, in terms of capital, make very few of them eligible for the scheme. "While the medical devices parks are welcome, we should have units coming up across the country. If there is demand for Made in India products, such units will come up naturally," he said.