Union Minister Mandaviya inaugurates 7th International conference of Pharma and Medical Devices sector

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare, on Monday inaugurated the 7th edition of the International Conference on Pharma and Medical Devices sector 2022, which is scheduled from 25th to 27th April. The inauguration took place in the presence of Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers and S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. The annual flagship three-day conference is being held at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.

Addressing the event, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Indian healthcare sector is becoming affordable and accessible for everyone due to the relentless efforts and leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The government has been working relentlessly to increase the number of doctors, medical institutions, and health infrastructure including hospital, tertiary care centres, health and wellness centres in the country. “Conferences like India Pharma and India Medical Device 2022 provide a platform for industry, academia and policymakers to brainstorm and draft a plan for the next 25 years for the sector,” the Minister said.

The Union Minister also said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the youth’s energy and brain power have been channelised.

“It is the youth of our country which will propel India to greater heights in the future and hence we should promote Industry- students collaboration. This will not only ensure the employability of our youth but will also provide skilled manpower to the industry. As we are celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, we need to assure ‘Sankalp se siddhi’. It is extremely important that we make a roadmap for a greater future and set goals which will ensure the progress of the Nation,” he said.

Minister Mandaviya congratulated the country’s Pharma industry for ensuring India’s successful fight against COVID-19 and said that the way India has managed the COVID-19 pandemic is a global case study.

“Today the entire world community is praising India’s efforts in carrying out the World’s largest vaccination drive. We have administered more than 187 crore doses in the country so far which is a commendable feat. When it comes to providing healthcare services, one should not think just for the nation but for the whole world. ‘Seva’ should always come first. Our approach of thinking is of totality and not token, Mandaviya said.

The Union Minister also said that we are witnessing the rise of a New India and all stakeholders have to ensure that the Pharma sector also becomes a part of this growth.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Union Minister of State of Chemicals and Fertilisers said that we need to focus on R&D and innovation to ensure quality, accessibility and affordability in the Indian pharma and medical device sector.

“India is the pharma hub in the world with our production being 5th in the world. The government is also working to provide industry-friendly policies along with ease of doing business,” he added.

He also said that the Indian medical device sector is currently standing at $11 billion and is likely to reach $ 50 billion by 2025 and highlighted that currently over 80 percent of medical devices are imported in India. “With R&D, innovation, India will soon produce 80 percent of medical devices in India,” Khuba claimed.

Meanwhile, three knowledge documents- ‘Impact of the pharma industry on the Indian ecosystem in the post- COVID era’, ‘Enabling Growth and innovation in the Indian Medical Devices Sector’ and a ‘Compilation of important speeches by CEOs’ were also released by the Union Health Minister. Moreover, Dr Mandaviya also chaired two roundtable conferences with the Pharma and Medical Devices CEOs after the inaugural ceremony.

In the conference, the Union Minister assured full support of the Government to the Pharma and medical devices sector and sought their feedback and support in preparing a roadmap for the next 25 years. Meanwhile, arious issues pertaining to the Pharma and medical devices sector were discussed at the conference.

According to the Ministry’s press statement, Dr V.K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR, senior officials from FICCI and Invest India and CEOs of various Pharma and medical devices companies were also present at the conference.