Separate medical devices from Drugs: Industry leaders

Bengaluru: A delegation of key industry leaders from the pharma and medical devices sectors highlighted their pressing demands and concerns to the Union government and called for the separation of medical devices from Drugs, besides other demands.

They met Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar at the third edition of India Pharma and Medical Device 2018 here on Friday and said the demands if met, will give the industries a boost and make India a world leader in the pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The other demands of the industry were the government should continue to adhere to globally harmonized standards (ISO and IEC) for patient safety and development of the sector, it comes up with a medical device policy for inclusive growth of the sector, early decision should be taken on Trade Margin Rationalisation and current price control mechanism should be altered to take 'Value-Based Healthcare' approach, focusing on long-term health outcome and innovation.

While congratulating the Government on implementation of New Medical Devices Rules which will help ease of doing business, eminent Medtech CEOs, including those from leading indigenous manufacturers asked that ICMED-type India-only standards should be stopped and India must abide by globally harmonized standards like ISO and IEC which will allow Indian firms to export medical devices and ensure safety of Indian patients.

They also requested the government to draft a Medical Device Policy for inclusive growth of the sector.