The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare needs to create a distinct department for the medical device industry. Sunil Khurana, CEO and managing director of BPL Medical Technologies, explains that this is due to the close connection between medical equipment and healthcare.
Currently, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers jointly oversee medical devices. This is nonsensical because patient care is connected to the medical device industry. As a result, the ministry of health and family welfare should be in charge of it, he continued.
Regarding the potential for domestic medical device companies, Khurana told Pharmabiz that to generate the much-needed development, Indian businesses must concentrate on exports.
According to him, just having a domestic market presence forces businesses to be price sensitive, which hurts their sales margins.
“Now that businesses are expanding abroad, they must compete in a market where fierce competition is present and demonstrate their mettle. The industry is able to meet quality standards, pursue certification, and raise expenditures to promote growth because to the continued focus on exports, the expert continued.
“BPL wants to play in this league as well. We want the world to support “Make in India.” It is reasonable for businesses like ours to concentrate on Brazil, the Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia even though the developing markets have a higher percentage of growth. Due to the significant government business, entering these nations is profitable.
Companies must also look for a local partner in order to take advantage of this potential, he added.
In India, the lowest tender determines the hospital supplies and medical equipment. BPL is aggressive in this area as well; just two months ago, two state governments placed an order worth Rs. 25 crore with it for critical care monitoring, anaesthetic machines, and ultrasounds.
India has a very high demand for medical gadgets because of its large population. Here, the business models for home healthcare and mobile healthcare are most prominent. It takes a lot of work and has a high capex to set up a hospital. According to Khurana, this is where home healthcare and mobile healthcare have a bigger role to play.
The business models of the future are thought to be home healthcare and mobile healthcare. The length of hospital stays is significantly reduced, in part thanks to home treatment. Within the limitations of the patient’s home, postoperative care can be given. Mobile healthcare apps can also be used to remotely monitor patients, assuring efficient care at a lower cost, the expert claimed.
“While cutting-edge technology are at the heart of everything, it’s crucial to have efficient rules to ensure that these solutions don’t clog up patient care in general. We are now eager to see how this area develops and are closely monitoring any new innovations that might emerge, according to Khurana.
There are also a number of major difficulties. Nearly 80% of medical equipment are imported, and India, with its skilled workforce, needs to speed up its manufacturing with strong university-level R&D programmes that combine technological and medical skills on a single platform.