Centre to promote 113 locally made medical devices to reduce import dependency

Buoyed by the rising exports of medical devices, the government has identified about 110 equipment which it plans to promote through local manufacturing in a big way over the next five years.

Medical devices comprise nearly 15,000 most commonly used equipment from syringes to the most sophisticated positron emission tomography (PET) scans, according to industry experts.

As per a roadmap prepared by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, the plan is to leverage the country’s existing strength by supporting and promoting 113 identified products that are being manufactured in India.

These medical devices include specific equipment across eight segments — cancer therapy, imaging, assistive medical devices, body implants, surgical instruments and hospital equipment, consumables and disposables, in-vitro diagnostic instruments, and reagents.

The devices and equipment which are in focus are cochlear, breast, knee and hip implants, hearing aids and contact lenses, x-ray machines and ultrasounds, chemotherapy devices, ventilators, defibrillators and dialysis machines among others.

Other devices in the category include syringes and stethoscopes, surgical gowns and drapes, masks and kits to test pregnancy, mosquito borne diseases, TB, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, pulse oximeters and heart lung machines.

These products are slated to be manufactured by both Indian companies and multinationals with manufacturing units in the country.

As per the government data, India imported devices worth $8,188 million in 2023-24, but also exported equipment worth $3,785 million.

The segment where most of the medical equipment was exported included consumables and disposables such as masks, syringes, gloves, catheters among others and imaging equipment such as X-ray and ultrasound machines.

“A large share of medical devices that are used in India continue to be imported but over the last three years, we have managed to raise the import coverage ratio (measure of a country’s ability to pay for its imports with its exports) from 0.34 in 2021-22 to 0.46 in 2023-24,” said DoP secretary Arunish Chawla.

The government figures show that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of export of medical devices over the last 4 years is 13.9 percent while the CAGR of import has been 8.6 percent.

The target, according to the DOP secretary, is to reduce India’s import dependence from the present level of about 75 percent to 50 percent in five years.

“We aim to improve export competitiveness for medical devices through value added manufacturing through building capacity to manufacture world class and high-quality products and raise import coverage ratio to 1 over the next five years,” Chawla added. ThePrint