'India, US should ensure safety of imported goods'

Imported and consumer products need greater attention from a health perspective, and India and the US should come together to form a global alliance to ensure the quality and integrity of imported food and consumer products, according to Michael O Leavitt, secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services.

"Though countries like the US, currently have good regulatory system to deal with products imported from across the world, the systems would not be adequate to cope up with future challenges in terms of health risks," Leavitt said.

Delivering the main address at a roundtable session on 'Indo-US Life Sciences, Health Sciences, and Public Health Collaborations', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Apollo Hospitals in Chennai on Monday, Leavitt said that individual manufacturing countries should strive to improve the integrity of their brands, collaborate between and within governments, bridge differences among competing countries in formalising common goals, bringing transparency and investing in continuous improvement.

Free flow of products from other countries is a sign of a maturing global marketplace, Leavitt said. India and the US can lead a powerful force to enhance relationship for safety in the global market. The US Health Secretary acknowledged the contribution of Indian talent to the success of US healthcare institutions like the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and the Centre for Disease Control.

"There are over 180 Indian research scholars, scientists and students working at the Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta and over 350 at USFDA's offices," he said.

Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare said that the Centre is allocating Rs 1,36,000 crore for healthcare, the equivalent of 2 per cent of GDP under the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012).

This is a huge increase from the Rs 45,000-crore allocation of the 10th Five Year Plan. He said the government is committed to providing quality healthcare at affordable prices, especially to people living in India's rural areas through the National Rural Healthcare Mission. The government is also creating a department of healthcare research within the next three months to focus on producing effective healthcare systems to treat diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, he said.

Medical tourism has started gaining momentum with India receiving over 2,50,000 patients for treatment last year from countries like the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. The domestic growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry was estimated at over 15 per cent and export growth was over 20 per cent. Indian pharma industry is the fourth largest in the world in terms of volume. The country has 450-odd USFDA-approved pharmaceutical manufacturing units, which is the largest outside the US, Ramadoss said.

Ramadoss said that as part of several initiatives to bring down healthcare costs, the Centre proposes to set up medical parks in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere for the manufacture of medical and diagnostic equipment. "Currently, over 90 per cent of equipment is imported. The encouragement of indigenous industry will go a long way in reducing healthcare costs," he said, adding that over 80 per cent of equipment manufactured by the industrial units of medical parks would be used sold only in the domestic market.

He noted that the government is keen to bring scientific validations to Siddha and Ayurvedic medicines, which are part of the 3,000 year-old Indian medical tradition.

Dr Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said that the US, with a healthcare budget of over $1.3 trillion, is undoubtedly leading the modern healthcare system in the world. There are strong similarities between India and the US with India witnessing the increasing trend of consumer-driven growth of healthcare services and a 'pay-for-health' approach. In India, over 70 per cent of patients pay healthcare costs out of their own pocket, Reddy said.

India and the US could jointly work towards common standards in exchange of healthcare information, healthcare best practices and standards, among others.

Leveraging India's talent pool of doctors, cost-effective and quality healthcare establishments, the developed countries can bring down their healthcare cost significantly, he added.

Calling for further evolution of common FDA standards and systems to recognise Indian degrees in medicine and joint approval of research and development and outsourcing, Dr Reddy said, "Indian hospitals are using international technologies, best clinical practices and still are able to provide cost benefits to the patients. US and other developed countries can make use of Indian healthcare services to lower global healthcare costs."

He also pointed out that by outsourcing R&D work to India, there is scope to reduce the cost of inventing a drug molecule, which is currently estimated at $1.5 billion, by at least a third.