image credit- shutterstock
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the National Medical Devices Policy 2023. The policy is expected to facilitate an orderly growth of the medical device sector to meet the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation.
It lays down a roadmap for accelerated growth of the medical devices sector to achieve the following missions viz, Access & Universality, Affordability, Quality, Patient Centred & Quality Care, Preventive & Promotive Health, Security, Research and Innovation and Skilled manpower.
The medical devices sector will be facilitated and guided through a set of strategies that will be cover six broad areas of policy interventions:
Regulatory Streamlining- in order to enhance ease of doing research and business and further to balance patient safety with product innovation measures
Enabling Infrastructure- The establishment and strengthening of large medical device parks, clusters equipped with world class common infrastructure facilities in proximity to economic zones would be pursued with the State Governments and Industry for better convergence and backward integration with medical device Industry
Facilitating R&D and Innovation- The policy envisages to promote Research & Development in India and complement the Department’s proposed National Policy on R&D and Innovation in the Pharma- MedTech Sector in India.
Attracting Investments in the Sector- Along with recent schemes and interventions
Human Resources Development- To support dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices in existing institutions to ensure availability of skilled manpower; To develop partnerships with foreign academic/industry organisations
Brand Positioning and Awareness Creation: Creation of a dedicated Export Promotion Council for the sector under the Department which will be an enabler to deal with various market access issues.