Centre Set To Send
Medical Device Policy for Final Nod
All stakeholder consultations
have been completed and the government think tank NITI
Aayog has asked the department to prepare a mechanism to
attract venture capital funding and drive local production
of medical devices.
• The aim is to make medical devices one of the champion
sectors and boost India’s 10-12% share of the global
medical devices industry.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals will shortly circulate a
draft note of the proposed new Medical Device Policy 2022
for cabinet approval that will seek to turn India into a
global manufacturing hub for medical devices.
All stakeholder consultations have been completed and the
government think tank NITI Aayog has asked the department
to prepare a mechanism to attract venture capital funding
and drive local production of medical devices.
The aim is to make medical devices one of the champion
sectors and boost India’s 10-12% share of the global
medical devices industry.
The draft note envisages that by 2047, India will be among
the top five global manufacturing hubs in terms of value
and technology for medical devices, and it will emerge as
a champion in critical components, cancer diagnostics,
medical imaging and ultrasonic scans among others. India
now ranks among the world’s top 20 global medical devices
market, and is the 4th largest medical devices market in
Asia after Japan, China, and South Korea.
“We have received remarks from all the stakeholders and
departments. They have accepted and supported the policy
also. So, we have got a very good response from all the
people," said an official aware of the matter requesting
anonymity. “In fact, NITI Aayog has told the Department of
Pharmaceuticals to raise the capacity of domestic
manufacturing by exploring venture capital and private
equity," the official said.
Experts said the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns brought
the government's focus on medical devices when
international supply chains were disrupted, which in turn
prompted the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative or domestic
production of medical devices.
“We are delighted that the union government has finally
come out with a Medical Devices Policy. This was long
awaited. Now over 20 ministries and government department
can work in a coordinated manner to address the
ever-rising graph of imports which went up by a steep 41%
to ₹63,000 crore last year (approx $8.5 billion) leading
to over 80% import dependence. India needs a predictable
policy and regulatory ecosystem to consider manufacturing
in India. There are now exciting Make In India
possibilities for and we invite MNC and other mid-sized
specialist manufacturers to put up green field
manufacturing plants in India as 100% FDI or Joint
Ventures or as technical collaborations," said Dr Rajiv
Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical
Device Industry (AiMeD).
"As far as data is concerned, till now 80%of medical
devices are imported in India. The production of medical
devices is restricted in some areas and we need to expand
it. So, this can happen when there is a tech transfer
happening in the medical device sector. A long-term policy
can actually help to enhance production and India has a
potential to be a hub for exports in medical devices,"
said Jatin Mahajan, managing director, J Mitra & Co. Pvt
Ltd which deals in manufacturing of in-vitro diagnostics
and secretary of Association of Diagnostic Manufacturers
of India.
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/centre-set-to-sendmedical-device-policy-for-final-nod-11660322824138.html
Govt reconstitutes
National Medical Devices Promotion Council
The Council will brief the issues
deliberated in its meetings with the minster for chemicals
and fertilisers on a regular basis to take further
guidance.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has reconstituted
the National Medical Devices Promotion Council (NMDPC),
with the Secretary of the Department as the head of the
Council.
The reconstitution comes after the Department for
Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which was heading the
Council from its inception, decided to hand over the onus.
An office memorandum issued by the DoP said that since the
DoP has the mandate for the promotion of the medical
devices industry and has created dedicated institutional
mechanisms such as a standing forum of medical device
associations, the DPIIT has communicated its concurrence
through an office memorandum dated June 16, 2022, to
reconstitute the NMDPC under the chairpersonship of the
Secretary, DoP, with appropriate representation from DPIIT.
Members
Accordingly, the Council has been reconstituted with the
following members:
-
Secretary of DoP as the chairperson,
-
Chairman of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
(NPPA),
-
Joint secretary of DoP (in charge of NIPER division) and
Advisor for Health, NITI Aayog, as the ex-officio members.
Another eight ex-officio members would
be one representative each, not below the rank of joint
secretary or equivalent, from the Department:
-
Health and Family Welfare,
-
Department of Health Research,
-
Department of Commerce,
-
DPIIT,
-
Drug Controller General (India) (DCGI),
-
Secretary Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission,
-
Executive Director of Engineering
Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC),
-
Kalam Institute of Health Technology,
Andhra Pradesh.
The representatives from:
-
Medical devices industry associations
-
Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD),
-
Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI),
-
Medical Technology Association of India (MTAI),
-
Medical Devices wings of Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI),
-
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),
-
Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) etc.,
The Joint Secretary, DoP, who is in
charge of the medical devices division, will be the
convener of the council. Others are:
-
The joint secretary or equivalent from the following
departments:
-
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change,
-
Department for BioTechnology,
-
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,
-
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises,
-
Animal husbandary and dairying,
-
Consumer Affairs,
-
Telecommunications revenue, etc.
Representatives from:
-
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Bureau of Indian
Standard,
-
CEOs of the National Accreditation Board for Testing and
Calibration Laboratories (NABL),
-
National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB),
Government E Marketplace (GeM), Quality
Control India, and Technical experts in the field of
medical devices are co-opted as and when required to
deliberate on specific issues.
Further, the additional chief secretary or principal
secretary of the industry department of the four states,
which are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh,
and Tamil Nadu, where the government is supporting the
creation of common infrastructure facilities under the
scheme for the promotion of medical devices parks, will be
invited to the meeting of NMDPC as may be needed, to bring
the relevant issues for deliberations.
The setting up of the Council was first announced by the
then Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh
Prabhu, on December 14, 2018, and the DPIIT later issued
an order on March 3, 2020, establishing the Council.
According to the initial decision, the council was headed
by the Secretary of DPIIT, along with members from the
concerned departments of the Government of India and also
representatives from the healthcare and medical devices
industry and quality control institutions.
The Council will try to meet once in three months and have
not less than three meetings in a year. Besides, it may
convene as and when a substantial issue is to be
discussed.
The Council will brief the issues deliberated in its
meetings with the minister for chemicals and fertilizers
on a regular basis to take further guidance.
-
To act as a facilitating and development body for the
Indian medical technology industry,
-
To achieve the objectives envisaged under the proposed
National Medical Devices Policy, 2022, towards the goal of
attaining Universal Health Coverage.
The other objectives include:
-
To build synergies in the efforts of various departments
in view of the diversity and multi-disciplinary nature of
the sector to harness the potential of the Indian MedTech
sector;
-
To hold seminars, workshops, and related networking
activities to garner the views of the industry;
-
To further strengthen the institutional mechanisms
established by the Department such as Standing Forum of
Medical Device Association and Regulatory Roundtable
meetings to deliberate on the issues put forth by the
industry for resolution;
-
To support dissemination and documentation of
international norms and standards for medical devices by
capturing the best practices in the global market and
facilitate domestic manufacturers to rise to international
level of regulatory and on-regulatory needs of the
industry.
It will also deliberate on
various issues related to public procurement of medical
devices under the Public Procurement Order (Make in India)
Policy of DPIIT with the goal to encourage investment and
domestic manufacturing in all categories of medical
devices.
https://thehealthmaster.com/2022/08/11/govt-reconstitutesnational-medical-devices-promotion-council/.
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