RISING PROXIMITY OF MEDICAL DEVICES TO POINT-OF-CARE CATALYSING OVERALL HEALTHCARE... -

The healthcare industry, in India, is gradually moving towards its goal of affordable healthcare for all".

The Indian diagnostics Industry has grown in leaps and bounds in the past two decades. The medical devices market in India stood at Rs. 77,539 crore in 2020, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35.4% from 2020 to 2025 (IBEF report). There is still a huge gap between demand and supply, since India has a 75-80 % import dependency. India has the lowest per capita spend of around USD 3 (Three US dollars) on medical devices, and it is this massive under-penetration that all manufacturers are trying to address.

The Indian medical devices industry largely operates in five key segments:

• Diagnostics imaging

• Consumables and disposables

• Patient aids like pacemakers etc

• Orthopaedics and prosthetics

• Dental Products

Recognising the sectoral impact and the potential for the segment in the country, the Indian government has also taken substantial steps for the growth and proliferation of the sector in the country. The government recognised the medical devices segment as a sunrise sector under the “Make in India” campaign in 2014. The government has initiated various schemes to strengthen the segment – which includes boosting research and development and boosting manufacturing within the country which includes through 100% FDI route.

The high-end segment comprising the diagnostics imaging segment is mostly catered to by the multinational corporations, backed by huge financial strengths. The industry – Government joint initiatives have led to the growth

of the medical devices segment slowly and steadily, and around 65% of the medical devices manufacturers in India, numbering between 750 – 800, are domestic players. These players operate mostly in the consumables segment. There are 6 medical devices manufacturing clusters in the country currently, and several other clusters are in the making. The established medical clusters are:

• Chennai, TAMIL NADU (Medical electronics)

• Bengaluru & Mangalore, KARNATAKA (Insulin Pens, Stents, Implants, Medical electronics)

• Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Sultanpur, AMTZ, ANDRHRA PRADESH & TELANGANA (Medical electronics)

• Mumbai, Pune & Nagpur, MAHARASHTRA (Pharmaceuticals)

• Ahmedabad & Vapi Industrial Corridor, GUJARAT (Pharmaceuticals)

• Chandigarh, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh & Manesar, HARYANA (consumer durables)

The growth of medical devices industry has also had a domino effect on the overall healthcare and quality of care across the entire spectrum of healthcare services.

Screening & Diagnostics – This has improved phenomenally with the increased complexity and accuracy of the diagnostics. Advancements in technology has ensured that the machines are less complex, manageable by lesser trained individuals and smaller in sizes and thus portable. This has resulted in usage of many of these devices in patient homes and point-ofcare, even in remote regions, enabling treatment of patients away from medical facilities. Quicker access to affordable diagnostics ensures faster and better treatment. Early detections result in lesser discomfort for the patients – both resulting in tremendous cost savings while improving the quality of living.

Treatment & Care – Advancements like robotics have ensured that more and more complex surgeries can be undertaken by the doctors in lesser timeframes and with a much higher level of efficiency and accuracy, reducing duration of hospital-stay, catalysing patient comfort and decreased stress.

Restoration – Advanced assistive and rehabilitative devices are ensuring that patients return to normal productive lifestyles.

Monitoring – There are a plethora of wearable monitoring devices and self-use devices that screen various healthcare parameters – patients can take charge of their health in the own homes and regularly monitor critical health parameters. Many of these can also be monitored by the doctors remotely. These devices have reduced the visits to the hospitals and monitoring centres to a fraction of earlier visits – reducing discomfort, stress, anxiety, cost, and time-involvements. It also reduces the burden on these medical establishments, and they can, in-turn focus on more critical patients.

As the industry grew, it has heralded a major impact on the overall healthcare industry in the country. The involvement of more and more medical devices across the entire range of health care has catalysed:

• Accurate diagnostics and targeted treatment

• Reduced the duration of hospital-stay

• Better healthcare outcomes

• Increased access to patient care

• Reduced burden on existing medical resources

• Cost reductions

• Higher peace of mind

• Lessor discomfort

• Wider spectrum of coverage of healthcare available to the masses

The healthcare industry, in India, is gradually moving towards its goal of affordable healthcare for all.