Centre notifies National Medical Device Policy

New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday notified the National Medical Device Policy 2023, aiming to establish India as a global leader in manufacturing and innovation of medical devices by achieving a 10-12% share in the expanding global market over the next 25 years.

The policy, detailed in a gazette notification issued on Thursday, outlines a regulatory mechanism, protocol for setting up standards for medical devices, price control, research and development (R&D), and a code of ethics for industry associations to ensure the ethical marketing of medical devices.

According to the notification, the policy will guarantee access to patent-centric, innovative, and affordable healthcare products of exceptional quality for improved healthcare outcomes. It seeks to facilitate the growth of the medical devices sector to cater to both the Indian and global markets while promoting safety and quality. The policy provides a roadmap for the accelerated growth of the medical devices sector.

“Excellent! It’s a great start! We hope for speedy implementation of the Policy by actionable tasks as have been sought by Parliament Health Committee & AiMeD to realise the Vision & Mission stated in the policy which aims to make an Atmanirbhar Bharat that not only helps its own citizens but the world access affordable high quality and safe medical devices,” Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) .

The policy plans to promote innovation and R&D, including joint R&D projects involving academic institutions and industry under the proposed ‘National Policy on R&D and Innovation in the Pharma-MedTech Sector in India’. This approach fosters collaboration between academic institutions and the medical devices industry.

Furthermore, the policy seeks to attract investments in the sector, adding to existing schemes and interventions to promote indigenous manufacturing, build competitiveness, and develop an ecosystem for manufacturing.