The central government plans to establish the country’s first specialised centre for medical devices in Gujarat to encourage indigenous research and development in the sector, which highly depends on import.
The move comes at a time when domestic medical device manufacturers are struggling for survival and domestic products are giving way for imported ones, industry experts say.
The proposed National Centre for Medical Devices will cater to the research needs of the Rs 1,500-crore industry and will also promote indigenisation of products.
According to government officials, NCMD will come up within the campus of the recently established National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Ahmedabad, and will function as the common innovation hub for the medical device manufacturing cluster being set up in the state.
“Medical devices are so diverse that several state-of-the-art product development and testing facilities in material sciences, efficacy and toxicity, and clinical trials are required to provide a helping hand to the industry,” a senior official in the Department of Pharmaceuticals said.
The centre will also develop flexible academic programmes that are inter-disciplinary in nature and cuts across engineering, electronics, material science, chemistry, biology, medical and computer sciences.
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The blueprint for the project, estimated at Rs 50 crore, was ready and the department was awaiting financial commitment from the Gujarat government before seeking the Planning Commission nod, the official said.
Rajiv Nath, coordinator of the Association of Indian Medical Devices Industry, has welcomed the government move, but warned that the research support needs to be matched with enabling business environment if the industry has to survive.
According to Nath, imports of medical devices have become over 20 per cent cheaper during the last one year due to a combination of fiscal and other factors. “The Customs duty has come down by 7.5 per cent, while excise duty on raw materials increased 2.5 per cent. The rupee appreciated about 13 per cent during this period, thereby turning imports 23 per cent cheaper,” Nath said.
“It is profitable to import syringes from China and sell it here. Same is the case with most medical devices. Indian medical devices manufacturers are fast turning into traders to sustain their business. The government should understand this while setting up manufacturing cluster and support base for research,” Nath said.