CATALYTIC ROLE PLAYED BY MEDICAL DEVICE PARKS AND EMERGING SCENARIO IN INDIA

After Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone (AMTZ), an integrated medical device manufacturing ecosystem set up by the state government in Vizag three years ago, proved to be a major success during Covid times, a lot of States have come forward and shown interest to establish medical device parks in their respective States.

More than 50 critical medical devices for Covid-19 care, are produced in the AMTZ’s 85 Factories located there. The most recent inauguration of foundation stone ceremony in December 2021 was by Transasia for IVD Diagnostics & Translumina for Heart Valves. AMTZ have been supplying bulk of the Covid-19 diagnostic kits,  ventilators and surgical masks for the Indian market. The park will also see the roll-out of India’s first locally produced MRI machines in the coming months.

AMTZ h as bee n allowing domestic manufacturers to avail world-class rapid prototyping testing and certification services at very nominal rates and provided competitive advantage of low cost leases and plug and play units as well as Gamma Radiation Plant and Common Warehousing Facilities.

The key initiatives taken by the Central Govt. in the recent times to make India 'Aatmanirbhar' by supporting the medical devices industry to reach its potential in the coming years under the "Promotion of Medical Device Parks" scheme has also inspired States to set up medical device parks.

The growing interest in such projects also saw 16 states, including Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, among others, vying for the four medical device parks announced by the Central government under its scheme for promotion of medical device parks last year. Under the scheme, the Centre will provide grant-in-aid to four medical device parks with a maximum limit of ?100 crore per park, or 70% of the project cost of common infrastructure facilities, whichever is less. In case of hilly states and the North-East, the grant-in-aid would be ?100 Crore per park, or 90% of the project cost of common infrastructure facilities, whichever is less. The ?400- crore scheme is for the 2020-21 to 2024-25 period. Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are known to have won the race for setting up four parks for 2021 and some others like Maharashtra & Haryana are in waiting list for next round.

The 15 to 20 Billion $ ?1.1-lakh-crore plus domestic medical device market has the potential to become a $50-billion market by 2025 if governments provide some fundamental policy support. The tariff policy should be predictable, medical devices rules should be separate from that of drug laws, public procurement priorities should be streamlined and unethical marketing practices should be curbed.