DR. JITENDRA SHARMA
What was the rationale behind your career move towards being one of the Med-tech influential leaders?
The healthcare value chain has medical technology as an unsolved question. Unlike Pharmaceuticals, which is a matter of pride where the country is self-sufficient to a large extent and a global supplier, but in medical technology, India is primarily import-dependent. Coming from a Health Administration background this glaring deficit in medical technology in the healthcare value chain was quite evident and therefore a professional resolve to contribute towards India's medical technology growth story and support the healthcare value chain by facilitating new product development, large scale manufacturing and good quality brand for made in India medical technology products remain a critical vision which led to AMTZ, Kalam Institute of Health Technology and many other organizations being thought leaders in medical technology in India today.
How AMTZ , the country’s first manufacturing hub has helped during the pandemic in terms of ventilators, mask and other related products?
AMTZ is one of the worlds largest medical device manufacturing clusters therefore supported by an innovative and industrial support ecosystem. AMTZ has supported during the pandemic several manufacturers, innovators, startups and entrepreneurs in bringing out much-required products for covid mitigation. AMTZ today makes about a million RT PCR covid test every day, hundreds of ventilators, Oxygen Concentrators, Masks, PPE Kits, IR thermometers pulse oximeters and so on however the real strength of AMTZ is not just products for pandemic but a broader ambit of the healthcare value chain. For example, AMTZ also makes superconducting magnets for MRI, robotic surgery systems and multiple other medical care products.
These unprecedented times affected the healthcare industry to its core. How can the Med Tech industry help contribute to patient care.?
The pandemic has led to rethinking and reprocessing of the healthcare value chain. outpatient Department has primarily become Teleconsultation, surgery has become minimal, blood banking, in vitro diagnostics has taken a lead and cardiorespiratory care, intensive care has become a critical requirement. this recalibration of healthcare needs in the healthcare value chain can only be supported if we take concrete and progressive steps towards medical technology industry support. primarily this support should include support towards capital machinery for the production of highly complex high volume medical devices, support towards regulatory compliances, support towards manufacturing of critical components such as sensors, valves, printed circuit boards, turbines, compressors that are used in medical technology and support towards transparent and ethical marketing practices.
What are your key learning during these unprecedented times?
The biggest learning is that human capital is the biggest capital, so long as human capital is by your side, one can meet any challenge. Therefore the biggest learning is to keep employees and people who work in the medical technology industry, safe and healthy. The second biggest learning is to ensure that for every medical technology product that we focus on, the key critical components are designed, developed and brought into the production stream. The dependence of these critical components
on external factors is risky and costprohibitive. The 3rd biggest learning is that the high degree of regulatory compliance if provided in-house leads to a better quality management system and better products.
What are your future endeavours to the medical industry as a leading Med Tech innovator?
Our future endeavour, besides the large number of scientific industrial laboratories that AMTZ has already set up, is primarily three. To ensure that the Indian biomedical skill council encompasses the training certification and accreditation of all biomedical engineering human resource spread across hospitals, laboratories, factories and research labs. Number two would be to ensure the setting up of mould bank which would provide moulds for most medical devices thereby cutting short the time to development required by the innovator by several months and reducing the cost of mould making substantially. Our endeavour three is to ensure a progressive pipeline of research and development of valves compressors, turbines, sensors and things that make medical technology products a success.
About Dr. Jitendra Sharma & AMTZ
Dr. Jitendra Sharma is the Managing Director & Founder CEO of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) which is Asia’s first medical devices manufacturing park. He is Founder Executive Director of Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT) - that serves as medical technology policy institute to various departments & ministries of Govt. of India. He is Member Secretary of National Medical Devices Promotion Council, and founder Chairman of two med-tech incubators - Medi-Valley, and Bio-Valley. He is adjunct lecturer at University of Adelaide, Australia; Chairman of Indian Biomedical Skill Council and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Niti Aayog, the national policy making institution of Govt. of India. Dr Sharma has been Awarded the European
Union–India Young Leaders Award at EU Parliament, Brussels and AAMI-Laufman Greatbatch Award for his distinguished work in medical technology sector. He is also known in professional circles as Med-Tech Man of India.
AMTZ – An Inclusive Ecosystem of Medical Device Manufacturing
Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) is India’s premier Medical Technology Park. It is a dedicated commercially and economically feasible ecosystem to meet the diverse requirement of the medical device industry and be self-reliant in this segment through preferential market access to boost domestic manufacturing and import substitution with an eye for export market. The products that contribute to the highest share of imports are identified and the components pertaining to it are prioritized and narrowed down to specific critical technologies. The infrastructure and common scientific facilities are developed keeping the international quality standards for manufacturing of medical devices in mind through formation of special purpose vehicle (SPV). The zone with in-house high investment scientific facilities would simplify end-to-end operations and help manufacturers reduce the cost of manufacturing by more than 40%-50%. The geographical location of AMTZ is well connected with Railways, Roadways, Waterways and Airways with near presence of Industrial Corridors, and Port which reduce logistical costs.
(i) National Organizations/Centres at AMTZ:
Kalam Institute of Health Technology (Ministry of Science & Technology); Government e-Market place- medical equipment cell (Dept. of Commerce, Govt. of India); Bio-Engineering Patent Cell (Controller of Patents, Govt. of India); National Institute of Design
Cell (DIPP, Govt. of India); National Medical Device Promotion Council (DIPP, Govt. of India); Medi-Valley Incubator (NITI Aayog); Bio-Valley Incubator (DBT, Govt. of India); Regional Hub for HTA (Dept. of Health Research, Govt. of India); Directorate of Radiation Safety (AERB); Indian Biomedical Skill Council (Ministry of Skill Development);
(ii) 4 International Centres/ Secretariats:
International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP)- Sweden/ UK; ECRI Institute -USA; Joanna Briggs Institute -Australia; WHO prequalification cell-WHO Geneva.
Scientific Industrial (iii) Laboratories
& Centres for Electromagnetism, lasers, 3-D printing, MRI coils, CT machine tubes; electrical safety; Biomaterial Centre; Material Characterization laboratory; Electromagnetic Interference Centre; Electromagnetic Compatibility Centre; Dialyser Fiber Extrusion Centre; Medical laser lab; Fab Lab; Mechatronics Lab; Radio-isotope Tc99 and 131 generator centre; Gamma Irradiation facility with Cobalt-60 and all Scientific Facilities required for medical devices manufacturing.
(iv) 80 partner companies
have made AMTZ is now
AMTZ their home and known as the Med Tech Capital of India.
The biggest learning is that human capital is the biggest capital, so long as human capital is by your side, one can meet any challenge.