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Medical device industry needs a fillip: Study
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SME Times News Bureau | 28 May, 2010
The Indian medical device industry, which is characterized by over 60 percent imports, needs urgent attention from the government, according a study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The FICCI study on 'Medical Device Industry' says that India is expected to lose a whopping US $ 225 billion by 2015 by way of national income foregone due to productivity loss from the increase non-communicable heart disease, stroke and diabetes which is expected to double in the 30 year period from 29 percent in 1990 to 57 percent in 2020.
"These chilling statistics, says FICCI, poses a huge challenge for the government and the healthcare industry in giving a fillip to the medical device industry....," the study views.
FICCI says that that healthcare sector is one of the large and fast growing sectors in the country with an annual turnover of Rs. 171,000 crore with 10-12 percent annual growth rate, but the medical device and equipment sector contributes only 6 percent of the total healthcare sector at Rs. 10,000 crore and is growing at 15 percent.
The medical device industry is also stifled due to fiscal anomalies, the FICCI study opines, adding that the tariff structure is such that the duty on components and raw material is higher than a finished product for devices such as Stent and Coronary systems.
"While the budget this year rationalized it for orthopedic implants much more needs to be done in this area of bringing parity in tariff structure," it opines.
The study also says that there is a need to look into extending GST exemptions to critical medical devices with a process of revisiting every year to accommodate technology advancement & changing disease patterns.
It recommends a slew of measures for the improvement of the medical device industry including schedule of training and educational programmes for the regulators through PPP with industry.
"Every country needs to establish systems for standardizing and regulating them for patient safety and increasing access to quality healthcare," the FICCI study points out.
India's disease burden as per WHO data in 2002 was 86 percent higher when compared to China ad 37 percent higher than Brazil. Globally, it is accepted that preventive healthcare leads to better health at minimal cost but this requires significant investment.
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