ANISH BAFNA

THE INDIAN MEDICAL DEVICES MARKET STILL IS HEAVILY IMPORT DEPENDENT WITH 80-85% OF MEDICAL DEVICES BEING IMPORTED. IT IS OUR AMBITION TO CREATE A HIGHLY QUALITY CONSCIOUS AND PRECISION BASED MEDICAL DEVICES PLATFORM FROM INDIA THAT CATERS TO GLOBAL NEEDS AND BE A TRUSTED PARTNER TO THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY. WITH OUR VISION “ACCESS TO PRECISION MEDTECH FOR EVERY PATIENT, GLOBALLY”, WE HAVE CREATED OVER 55 PATENTED PRODUCTS IN INDIA AND THE U.S, PUTTING INDIA ON THE GLOBAL MAP AND GARNERED ACCESS TO 18,000 HOSPITALS IN INDIA AND 80 COUNTRIES DELIVERING TO THEM HIGH PRECISION, HIGH QUALITY USFDA, CE AND ISO APPROVED PRODUCTS.

What was the rationale behind your career move to Healthium and being one of Medtech’s influential leaders?

I have worked for over 27 years in the healthcare industry across six different countries including a stint in India. However, the appeal to be back in India has always been strong. Despite career stints abroad, the connection to my roots has always run deep. I have always chosen assignments in my career where there is a large upside to things, where you could turn around adversities into opportunity. Despite a comfortable career abroad, whenever such opportunities beckoned back home where I could create a positive impact, I have taken them. This was one such that came about 2 years ago.

The Indian pharma industry has transformed itself in the last decade, creating both size and scale, truly putting India on the global map. The medical devices industry in India is however highly fragmented with MNCs traditionally dominating the market. The market still is heavily import dependent with 80-85% of medical devices being imported. There is an opportunity to create a highly quality conscious and precision based medical devices player of scale that is not just make for India but make for the world and a trusted partner for the healthcare industry. This is how the Healthium Group was formed with 3 companies, Healthium Medtech, QNPL in India and Clinisupplies in the U.K.

Today, we are the largest manufacturer of surgical suture needles globally, by volume. Our products are used in 1 in 6 surgeries globally, we are the 4th largest manufacturer of sutures globally, we account for over 50% of India’s global

suture exports, we are the largest Indian manufacturer of Arthroscopy products and we have the only plant in this part of the country that has 510k (US FDA) approvals. We also have ISO and C.E certifications, our products are exported to 80 countries and we have 55 patents in India and the U.S in the last 2 years including those applied for. The Company’s well-diversified product range includes minimally invasive Arthroscopy implants, skin staplers, suture needles, surgical gloves, hernia meshes and hemostats which are distributed across 18,000 geo-tagged hospitals in India.

In order to provide a viable “Make in India make for the world” option that could stand its own against MNCs, we had to undergo a transformational journey internally over the last 2 years. For us the foray into bringing 3 companies together was an exercise in creating a common vision, culture and value system that inspired teams to work collaboratively. The organisational design and structure at Healthium underwent phenomenal transformation and we employed diverse talent from around the globe. We also invested significantly on processes. As part of the digital transformation, SAP HANA, CRM systems, automation across departments, collaborative working tools, geotagging of hospital accounts facilitated a smooth scale up.

In order to deliver to globally accepted quality standards, we invested heavily in R&D and on New Product Development capabilities. In 2019, we got our USFDA certification without any observations. On the R&D engine, our idea was to move up the value chain by creating significantly differentiated products from those globally available that can be patented, with an IP. And, we created this brand new range of products for arthroscopy for knee and shoulder interventions, Sironix. We have created India's largest range for shoulder implants for arthroscopy. The range has been able to get us about 52 patents including those applied for, including about 9 US patents. This will help us hold our own in a market dominated by MNCs.

What was the key behind your success?

Success for me is putting in your best efforts, to be the best at what you do. They say that if you really want something, the entire universe will conspire to make it happen. When I started my career, my HR Head had told me not to worry about designation, remuneration and perks, but to follow learning and that the rest would automatically come. This has deeply resonated with me. Moving into unchartered territory and mobility are two tenets I have followed. In my 1st career stint, I moved into a new country Vietnam with an opportunity to building a business from scratch. Not worrying about what can go wrong, understanding new beliefs and cultures and their impact on daily lives and of course building a global network as you move along are few factors that help.

As a Leader, I believe in focusing on processes rather than obsessing about outcomes. If the 1st is robust the outcome will follow. I also believe in building sustainable and consistent solutions and often challenging status quo in order to avoid complacency. Lastly, having a great team always pays off. One of the biggest contributors to my success have been the core values – integrity, egoless state and flexibility to change. According to me, integrity tops everything; work ethics and compliance are very important be it in organizations or in human beings.

How the technological advancements in the medtech industry has changed the face of medical science in India?

The current pandemic has proved to be a real game changer which has led healthcare industry to embrace technology like never before. The healthcare industry is changing to embrace the growth of digital outreach and delivery through data analytics, telemedicine and e-pharmacy. Online and video consultations, tele-assessment and e-medicine have come into play during the pandemic and lockdown and continue to be on the rise. Social distancing and self-quarantine have forced patients to switch from visiting clinics to consulting doctors online. This promises to be a much needed shift given the lack of healthcare infrastructure that the country faces. While the immediate focus is managing the pandemic and the inoculation drive, however the long term focus will be redrawing the healthcare landscape and strengthening the infrastructure for both prevention, diagnosis and healthcare.

These unprecedented times have affected the healthcare industry to its core. How can the Med Tech industry help in contributing to patient care?

The Healthcare industry has been at the forefront of the battle against COVID. The Medtech and diagnostics industries have also risen to the occasion fast. In the last wave the industry reacted swiftly by stepping up the production for testing kits, diagnostics, ventilators, PPEs and anti-microbial surgical consumables such as gloves and masks. This time around too, the devices industry has been looking for ways to step up and support the Healthcare providers and patients.

The Healthium team has also been working hard in this direction too. We have ramped up production of essential medical devices and kept our manufacturing facilities open with due permissions and precautions, despite the lockdown to ensure un-interrupted supply to hospitals. We have fast tracked production schedules to enable critical deliveries within 24-48 hours. We have expanded our supply chain by 40% to support quicker deliveries to healthcare facilities in remote parts of the country.

We are aware that child birth and

emergency surgeries like cardio -vascular surgeries still continue despite the pandemic and have ensured that critical products are in enough supply. Given the surge in demand for gloves at hospitals across the country, we have utilized multiple production lines to step up to the needs of the country. A significant production of gloves manufactured are earmarked for government hospitals. We have also increased production of our Anti-microbial gloves TRUSHIELD that actively kills microbes and protects both surgeons and patients.

What are your key learnings during this unprecedented time?

These have really been testing times and the resurgence of the pandemic under wave 2 has deeply affected all of us, creating both personal and professional challenges. While we had hoped to be on the road to recovery, the number of cases are growing significantly across the country and have affected many. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed loss of lives of near and dear ones including friends and relatives. A lot of us are experiencing fatigue and burnout, increased challenges on selfcare and many are carrying the additional responsibilities of care-giving.

Empathy for those affected, their families and a strong sense to collaborate and help each other emerges strong. Only together can we survive this. Supporting our teams, our industry, the community around us in every possible way be it managing their physical and mental wellbeing, financial help, emotional support, needs to be addressed at the earliest. Of course developing the agility to manage constant change, planning ahead to create capacities on infrastructure, supply chain, crisis management, contingency planning and plugging other industry gaps emerge stronger than ever as things to do in the longer run. Courage, resilience and the spirit of collaboration will certainly help us through these turbulent times in the shorter run.

What are your future endeavours in the medical devices industry as a leading Med Tech innovator?

Innovation has been at the core of what we do at Healthium. In the last year alone despite the pandemic, we have launched a series of indigenous innovations averaging one a quarter. Given the high need for infection control in hospitals and during surgeries we launched TRUSHIELD – India’s first Anti-Microbial gloves that actively kills microbes on contact and provides 99.99% protection for both the patient and Healthcare practitioner.

Safe child birth is every mother’s right but India is amongst the top 10 countries on maternal mortality and sadly we lose a mother every 20 minutes in child birth or related complications. We have worked with a gynaecologist Dr Mahesh Gupta and created Truglyde2355, a suture needles combination to specially suit COMOC MG - his Innovative surgical technique to manage Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH), one of the causes for maternal mortality. We have also launched 'Sure Stitch' – the first 'Made in India' meniscal repair device that has been very well received by arthroscopic surgeons. It is our endeavour to create high quality Indian alternatives to MNCs. We have invested heavily in R&D and in our research centre at Noida. Our aim is to be partners for the leading hospitals in the country to ensure easy accessibility of quality medical devices for better patient outcomes. We aim to solidify our position in Tier 1 cities and use our proven industry credentials and strong legacy to partner with key hospital networks, drive accelerated growth and offer consumers more choices. We are simultaneously looking at a building on our new product pipeline and are delighted with the positive traction shown in the Indian market towards our arthroscopy range that was developed over the last 3 years. Exports continue to be a key growth focus area for us. We are confident that these initiatives taken during the consolidation phase in 2020 will see a multiplier effect for us going forward as things normalize gradually.

A brief about yourself and your organisation.

I took over as the CEO & Managing Director of the Healthium Group in August, 2018, when I returned to India with the dream of creating India’s most trusted Medtech company. I have over 27 years of operational and general management experience in the healthcare industry, having worked in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Singapore and Japan. In my last assignment, I was President Japan, for Baxter International. In earlier stints, I have served as the Regional Head- Emerging Asia at Baxter in Singapore, overseeing the operations of India and South East Asia from 2015 to 2017. I like reading, plays tennis and to delve in history.

The Healthium Group consists of Healthium Medtech Pvt. Ltd., one of the largest players in the Indian Medical Devices Market, QNPL, the largest independent manufacturer of surgical suture needles worldwide by volume, and Clinisupplies, a leading player in Urology Consumables in the United Kingdom. The well diversified product portfolio of the company includes minimally invasive solutions like Arthroscopy and Endoscopy implants and Ancillary devices, a full range of Absorbable, Non- Absorbable and specialty surgical sutures, Hernia meshes, Skin staplers, Cardiac Pacing wires, ligation clips and Haemostats. Healthium is proud to say that 1 in 6 surgeries globally, uses a Healthium product. It owns 55 patents in India and U.S including those applied for. The manufacturing facilities have also continued the thrust on high quality with 510K (USFDA), CE and ISO approvals. It has over 1500 employees with 60% being women.