Centre to chalk roadmap for pharma, medical devices for next 25 years

As the recent COVID-19 pandemic scenario has shown the resilience of the pharmaceutical sector, the Central government will engage with industry and academia to chalk roadmap for pharma and medical devices for the next 25 years, said Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday.

The Health Minister further assured that India shall soon get the competitive edge in medical devices too with research and innovation.

He was addressing the media conference ahead of the 7th edition of India Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Conference 2022, which is being scheduled from April 25 to April 27 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 will be held at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.

This year, India Pharma is planned around the theme: 'India Pharma-Vision 2047: Transformative agenda for future'. For India Medical Device, the theme is 'Transforming Healthcare through Innovation and Integrated Services'.

The discussions planned in a span of 3 days will bring in new opportunities and ideas to make Indian the global leader in quality medicines and to ensure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of drugs and medical devices in the country.

"Every year this meeting is convened with focus issues like building resilient supply chains, the need to harness technology in the pharma and medical device sectors, the potential to tap into the manufacturing of medical equipment, and many more," the Health Minister said.

Speaking on the previous meetings, Mandaviya said, "Previous meetings have helped immensely, today, the Indian Pharma industry is at the threshold of rapid growth. We have already seen India as the pharmacy of the world and from our philosophy, we not only consider the pharmaceutical sector as a business but also as a 'Seva'."

As envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Minister said that enhanced collaboration between the Industry, Department, and the Government can help achieve the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in its true sense of "Making in India for the world".

"Recent pandemic scenario has shown the resilience of this sector and we must work towards strengthening this further. We will engage with industry and academia to chalk the roadmap for pharma and medical devices for the next 25 years. The Indian pharma industry is known globally for its affordable and quality drugs. We shall soon get the competitive edge in medical devices too with research and innovation," he added.

Apart from generic medicine, he also focused on increasing patented drug manufacturing.

The Union Minister urged the participants to brainstorm the ideas on various fronts - policy, economic, research and innovation.

Mandaviya also said that to make India self-reliant in the manufacturing of key materials and products and to reduce our dependence on other countries, we identified several APIs and started their manufacturing in the country itself.

"We now must look forward to be agile against the global competition. We have to focus on other aspects like international partners, global supply chains, digital expertise implementation. Our own requirement is increasing as the accessibility to health is increasing. Thus, such conferences help in bringing all the stakeholders and make a blueprint for the future," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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