Foreseeing the devastating impact of the New Drugs, Cosmetics & Medical Devices Bill, 2023 on the domestic players and India’s preparedness to deal with any pandemic like situation, multiple stakeholders have joined hands and want the New Drugs, Cosmetics & Medical Devices Bill to be recalled.

In a joint plea made by the Indian medical device manufacturers, patient interest groups, users and hospitals to Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh L Mandaviya, they have articulated their concerns and have sought the recall of the Bill in the larger interests of the nation and budding indigenous manufacturers of medical equipment, who are playing a pivotal role in bringing resilience in the country’s MSME sector.    

In the joint letter, they have called for a consultation meeting with a fresh committee under the Chairmanship of ICMR/DST/DBT and key stakeholders for discussing feedback from them and careful consideration of their suggestions before finalising the draft of the Bill and submitting it to the Parliament.

Talking about the Bill, Dr Girdhar Gyani, Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers India, said that “if the bill is implemented, the Medical Devices Manufacturing sector may face supply chain crisis and effectively lose its ability to meet domestic demand, hence in a wider interest the draft bill needs to be reviewed for its effective implementation.

According to Prof Bejon Misra, Founder Director, Patient Safety and Access Initiative of Foundation India, The Bill was drafted through a flawed process by a Committee of Regulators by sharing the initial draft on the website of MoH&FW and did not thereafter hold any kind of consultation meeting with many integral stakeholders for discussing feedback from them and also did not implement any suggestions made by us before finalising the draft for submitting it to the Parliament.