Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) have signed a MoU to promote 'Cure in India' initiative for driving medical tourism within India and simultaneously promote 'Buy Indian' which encourages use of India manufactured devices in healthcare sector along with Indian medical expertise.

Under the scheme of things, IMA will encourage medical fraternity to go 'One Step beyond Endorsement' for India manufactured medical devices which would be approved by IMA based on stringent internationally accepted quality parameters.

As per the MoU, IMA and AIMED will establish joint mechanism to promote Indian medical device industry and under their 'Cure in India' initiative will give users and consumers access to 'IMA preferred Brands of Safe Indian Medical Device' that are affordable.

The move is likely to have a huge positive impact on 'Make in India' program while giving a big shot to manufacturing of medical devices within the country and bring esteem to the Indian Industry & Nation thereby building Brand India .

"This MoU will give a big push to manufacturing and innovation in Indian medical device industry while promoting Indian healthcare sector as a whole. This initiative will also help reduce country's huge import dependency in medical device sector while encouraging exports," said Mr Rajiv Nath, forum co-ordinator of AIMED.

"IMA is of the view that for those consumables and devices which are manufactured in India and approved by appropriate authorities, no reimbursement should be given to foreign devices," said Padma Shri awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, honorary secretary general ,IMA.

Under the joint mechanism, both associations will soon roll out promotional campaigns to achieve the objectives of this MoU.