Government approves Rs 480 crore three-year education scheme for medical devices sector

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NEW DELHI : The government has approved a Rs 480 crore three-year education scheme to develop a talent pool to drive the medical devices industry. This scheme will provide financial assistance to government institutions to run multiple courses on medical devices. This has the potential to upgrade these institutions to global standards.

The move follows the recent announcement of the National Medical Device Policy, 2023. The policy is expected to help the medical devices sector grow from $11 billion in 2023 to $50 billion by 2030.

“There is a need to have a steady supply of skilled workforce across the medical device sector. For skilling, reskilling and upskilling of professionals in the medical sector, the department may leverage the available resources in the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship,” informed an official from the department of pharmaceuticals.

The new scheme will also support dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices in existing institutions . This should hopefully ensure availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing and research. In turn, these will produce future-ready medtech workforce and meet the evolving needs of the sector.

“The plan is also to leverage partnerships with foreign academia or industry organizations to develop medical technologies so that India can compete with the world market,” added the pharma department official.

With India being 80% dependent on imported medical devices, the covid-19 pandemic brought the government focus on medical devices when international supply chains became disrupted. This subsequently prompted India to take urgent steps to manufacture masks, PPE kits, gloves, sanitizers, thermometers, oximeters and oxygen therapy equipment like invasive and non-invasive ventilators, which were imported.

“We are glad that the National Medical Device policy is being backed by financial outlay to enable government institutions to make tailor-made courses to develop expertise in diverse technologies deployed in medical devices–electronics, metallurgy, electrical, polymer, rubber, chemical and biomedical engineering along with nanotechnology with regulatory and quality management systems,” opined Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED).