Medical Device Innovation Summit: India is poised to be a manufacturing hub for medical equipments and devices

Messe Frankfurt India’s first digital session of Medical Device Innovation Summit concluded on a positive note with industry leaders addressing burning topics to promote innovation in the medical equipment industry. From challenges like lack of regulatory systems to its new found potential of manufacturing indigenous products on a large scale, the summit successfully addressed discussions on new growth opportunities for the overall development of the sector.

The current pandemic situation has converged the entire medical industry and academia in a never seen before momentum. It has led to mass production of innovative medical products along with awareness of diagnosis and diagnostic tests that will help improve the quality of health in the future. From conducting 1,000 tests per day to nine lakh tests per day to detect symptoms of COVID-19, India has showcased immense potential to become the global producer and supplier for quality indigenous medical equipment and technologies.

Scheduled on August 29, 2020, Messe Frankfurt India’s first ever webinar for the medical device industry saw prominent names from the industry as speakers like:

• Vijay Kumar, Head of Strategic Marketing & Innovation, Roche Diagnostics India, Neighbouring Markets
• Veena Kohli, CEO, Vanguard Diagnostics & President, ADMI – Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI)
• Dr Uma Nambiar, Executive Director, Gimcare Hospital and Chairperson, Digital Health India Association (DHIA);
• Vijay Simha, CEO, Audicor Cardiometrics & Advisory Member-Health Start-up Committee, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry( FICCI)
• Dr Jitendar Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ)

Moderating this highly insightful live webinar was Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) and Managing Director, Hindustan Syringes & Medical Device. The summit received strong support from Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED), Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI), Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ), and Digital Health India Association (DHAI).

India’s take on digital transformation in the medical industry

The current situation has brought in an open mindedness to the Indian medical system where everyone is latching on to the digital evolution and healthcare facilities. Homecare, tele-care and tele-medicines are a few expansions that hospitals will provide in increasing numbers in the future.

Dr Jitendar Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ) emphasised on the need for innovation in the therapeutic/treatment segment. He said,“We are fairly good and independent in the diagnostic segment. But on the therapeutic side, robotic surgery, gama knife and linear accelerator are the only kind of major new products currently available on a global level in last five to eight years. This is where Indian entrepreneurship and science can come into picture. To do so, we need a Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) with calibrated customs duty structure. We must also invest in shareable infrastructure that is technology oriented such as done at AMTZ for benefit of medical device industry.”

Outlook on non-COVID (IVD) test industry for 2020

The in vitro diagnostics (IVD) is recorded to mark a year on year growth of 30 per cent in 2020 which will be double the market rate in average 10 years.

Explaining the statistic in detail, Veena Kohli, CEO, Vanguard Diagnostics and President, ADMI – Association of Diagnostics Manufacturers of India (ADMI) shared, “The Indian In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) industry is expected to record a year on year growth of 30 per cent in the year 2020. This will be double the rate at which the industry has been growing in the past decade. The size of IVD industry in the year 2019 was Rs 7500 crore which was slated to grow at a CAGR of about 15 per cent before the COVID crisis. COVID related products have already added Rs 3400 crore to the market size during the first half of the year and by the end of the year, this figure is expected to touch an estimated amount of Rs 7300 crore. Even if the size of non-COVID routine diagnostics products plummet to one third its original value, a base value of Rs 2500 crore will still remain, taking the total industry size to a value of Rs 9800 crore.”

The de-growth in the IVD industry may sound alarming but the sharp surge in COVID test and large production of indigenous products will more than make up for the loss this year.

Other important topics discussed during the session were the future of healthcare in India, impact on supply chains, manufactures and hospitals during the lockdown, need for a regulatory system for medical equipment industry and choosing quality over price competency to ensure ethical products and technologies in the medical field.

Messe Frankfurt India plans to launch Medical Device Innovation Summit as a large-format Conference and Exhibition in 2021.