Post Ayushman Bharat and Price Caps on Stents the public got assurance of extending further Price Controls to other medical devices in the BJP manifesto.

Applauding Modi Govt’s achievements in the last five years, Mr. Rajiv Nath said “The last five years witnessed significant developments in the medical devices sector with noticeable focus by various Ministries of Government focusing on this earlier neglected sector, having realised the huge potential of this sector for unleashing Make in India and to become the next big Brand India success story after IT & Pharma.

The experimental and tentative steps taken to address inverted duty structure for some devices, price caps on Stents & Knee Implants, Indian Certification for Medical Devices, bringing in Medical Devices Rules , establishment of Kalam Institute of Healthcare Technology and Andhra Med Tech Park in Vishakapatnam, drafting an Essential list of Diagnostics and establishment of Medical Devices Promotion Council in Modi 1.0 needs to be now taken forward to the logical conclusion in Modi 2.0.

We discussed with Honourable Minister Shri Choubeyji of the  urgent need for the Govt. to accelerate further reforms for which foundation has now been laid and supportive measures in order to boost medical device manufacturing within the country, reducing huge import dependency in this sector which is still at 70-90% and a staggering 31000 Cr Rs imports bill , minimizing outgo of foreign reserves, and making quality healthcare affordable and accessible to the masses at large as initiated under Ayushman Bharat.

The first term of the Modi government has been very eventful and progressive for the presently valued $10 billion Indian Medical Device Market which saw a series of serious measures being taken by the government for the Indian Medical Devices Industry which looked positive and beneficial to the end consumer but voicing the concerns of Domestic Medical Devices Industry, Mr. Rajiv Nath urged  for expediting steps for patients’ protection, stronger quality & Safety regulations, price controls to make devices and quality treatment accessible and affordable and ethical indigenous manufacturing viable .

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Priority issues raised by AIMED

• Need to regulate all Medical Devices under a Patients’ Safety Medical Devices Law to protect patients
• Need to protect Consumers from exploitatively high MRP in Medical Devices by rationalised price controls
• Need to encourage employment and Make in India of Medical Devices and address 70-90% import dependency by a predictive nominal tariff protection policy as done for mobile phones to ensure a vibrant domestic industry & competitiveness and price stability driven by competing domestic players
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“We stressed that these are vital and strategic to meet the health-for-all National agenda of PM Modi and aligned to the Health Policy 2017, to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for common masses and to place India among the Top 5 Medical Devices manufacturing hubs worldwide and end the 70-90% import dependence forced upon us and an ever increasing import bill of over Rs 31, 000 crore ! Pseudo Manufacturing & Unethical marketing is harming consumers and disallowing manufacturing to succeed in India by well meaning investors.”added Mr Nath.

Dr Sharma remarked “we stressed the need to have a predictable regulatory road map with need to regulate by category and commonality of technology and not by random cherry picking as well as sought 4-5 years transition period instead of one year for the 8 Devices recently notified. “ While price controls is under NPPA and Tariff etc under Finance we sought clear policy recommendations from MoH to these departments as being vital to achieving Health Policy objectives. The minister had made announcements on these at the WHO conference and steps need to be taken to drive forward these agendas to the logical conclusion to enable benefit to patients and manufacturers