Govt to tap AIIMS, IIT on medical device production

The Centre is planning to tap experts at the AIIMS, IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bengaluru, to boost domestic manufacturing of medical devices, aiming to make India a $50 billion market by 2025 for these products.

Medical devices constitute a large sector including: electronic equipment, implants, consumables and disposables and surgical instruments and in-vitro diagnostic reagents.

The plan is to use these academic institutions and research bodies like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which have the technical know-how to produce raw materials to manufacture, research and develop the medical device sector.

India imported medical devices worth $8.5 bn in 2021-22 while exports stood at $2.9 bn. These high-end medical devices include CT Scanners, MRI, ultrasound & X-Ray machines, knee and hip implants, dental fixtures, cancer diagnostics and sophisticated surgical instruments.

“Our aim is to make India self-reliant in medical device sector and the focus should be on increasing the manufacturing capacity. However, the manufacturing of high-end technology devices requires evolved medical devices sector with a robust and improved research and development (R&D) infrastructure and trained workforce. For this, the government is planning to take the support of academia like AIIMS, IITs, IIS and CSIR in R&D with a common vision and roadmap,” said an official.

For increased the manufacturing capacity of medical devices, the plan is also to bring in an effective regulatory regime with a liberal taxation system, said the official. According to the official, indigenous manufacturing of medical devices can only happen if there is local availability of raw materials and critical components.

Queries emailed to the department of pharmaceutical spokesperson did not elicit a response.