Govt's go-ahead for 4 medical device parks

The government has given approval for setting up four medical device parks with a view to support Make in India initiative and provide world-class products at an affordable price for treatment. The four parks will be set up in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, sources said, adding that Uttarakhand and Gujarat have also approached the Centre for a go-ahead for such parks.

These parks will provide necessary infrastructure, where companies can easily plug and play, sources said. This will not only cut import bill but will also help in easy access to standard testing facilities and reduce cost of production, they said.

The project of Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone for the creation of Common Facility Centre (CFC) for Superconducting Magnetic Coil Testing and Research was given in-principle approval recently. The scheme proposes to provide Rs 25 crore or 70 percent of the project cost of setting up of CFCs, whichever is less, for the creation of common facilities in any upcoming park.

According to estimates, the medical devices retail market in the country is of around Rs 70,000 crore. The domestic medical devices industry is very small even though India is the fourth largest market in Asia. India is largely an importer of medical devices, with the domestic industry accounting for about 2 percent of the global industry which stands at USD 250 billion, as per the estimates.