 "Centre to set up 6 pharma and 2 medical devices parks")
In line with Katoch Committee recommendations to augment manufacturing capabilities of pharmaceutical industry, the centre is planning to set up six pharma parks and two clusters for manufacturing medical devices in the country. Government is going to set up six pharma parks and two medical devices parks very soon which will involve an investment of about Rs 30,000 crores, said Ananth Kumar, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers while releasing the report of the task force on development of manufacturing capabilities in pharmaceutical industry, on January 13, 2016 in New Delhi. The minister also assured that recommendations by Katoch Committee on bulk drugs will be implemented soon.
Ananth Kumar said, “Pharma industry in the country is a sunrise industry with $ 30 billion output and the Government is supporting the industry in taking up this output to $ 55 billion by 2020. The sector is growing at the rate of 14 percent per annum and it has to show additional 1-2 percent growth every year to reach the 2020 target.”
To fulfil the requirement of skilled manpower for the industry, the government has taken up human resource capacity building in this sector in a big way. The Minister informed, “In the last one and a half years, there have been more Niper (National Institutes for Pharmaceutical Education and Research), more students, more infrastructure and more industry participation in them.”
The major objective for constitution of the task force (Katoch Committee) was to identify the gaps in production of drugs, vaccines etc in various therapeutic categories and to suggest remedial action. The task force chaired by Secretary, Pharmaceuticals has given recommendations with respect to policy support, infrastructure, skill development, duty structure, policy for pricing, regularity framework and promoting research and development for three different verticals - communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, and bio-pharma, prophylactics and over-the-counter (OTC) products. The task force has recommended that taking steps to enhance access to safe and affordable medicines is crucial for addressing the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Ananth Kumar said, “Pharma industry in the country is a sunrise industry with $ 30 billion output and the Government is supporting the industry in taking up this output to $ 55 billion by 2020. The sector is growing at the rate of 14 percent per annum and it has to show additional 1-2 percent growth every year to reach the 2020 target.”
To fulfil the requirement of skilled manpower for the industry, the government has taken up human resource capacity building in this sector in a big way. The Minister informed, “In the last one and a half years, there have been more Niper (National Institutes for Pharmaceutical Education and Research), more students, more infrastructure and more industry participation in them.”
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While in the current budget, three new Niper centres in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have been announced, the Department of Pharmaceutical will propose another three centres in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for the next financial year.
The major objective for constitution of the task force (Katoch Committee) was to identify the gaps in production of drugs, vaccines etc in various therapeutic categories and to suggest remedial action. The task force chaired by Secretary, Pharmaceuticals has given recommendations with respect to policy support, infrastructure, skill development, duty structure, policy for pricing, regularity framework and promoting research and development for three different verticals - communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, and bio-pharma, prophylactics and over-the-counter (OTC) products. The task force has recommended that taking steps to enhance access to safe and affordable medicines is crucial for addressing the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.