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 chart a roadmap for pharmaceuticals and medical devices for the 25 next few years, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday. The Minister of Health further assured that India will soon gain a competitive advantage in medical devices through research and innovation.

He was addressing the press conference ahead of the 7th edition of the Indian Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Conference 2022, which is scheduled for April 25-27 in the presence of Bhagwanth Khuba, State Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers and S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. The three-day annual flagship 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 the Future’. For India Medical Device, the theme is “Transforming healthcare through innovation and integrated services”. The discussions planned over a period of 3 days will bring new opportunities and ideas to make India the world leader in quality medicines and to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of medicines and medical devices in the country .

“Each year, this meeting is convened with central issues such as building resilient supply chains, the need to harness technology in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors, the potential to harness medical equipment manufacturing , and many others,” said the Minister of Health. Speaking on previous meetings, Mandaviya said, “Previous meetings helped tremendously, today India’s pharmaceutical industry is on the threshold of rapid growth. We have already seen India as the pharmacy of the world and our philosophy, we do not only see the pharmaceutical sector as a business but also as ‘Seva’.”

As envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Minister said that enhanced collaboration between industry, ministry and government can help realize the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in its true sense of “doing in India for the world”. “The recent pandemic scenario has shown the resilience of this sector and we must work to strengthen it further. We will engage with industry and academia to chart the roadmap for pharmaceutical and medical devices for the next 25 years. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is known worldwide for its affordable and quality medicines.We will soon get a competitive edge in medical devices also through research and innovation,” he added.

Apart from generic medicine, he also focused on increasing the manufacture of patent medicines. The Union Minister urged participants to brainstorm ideas on different fronts – political, economic, research and innovation.

Mandaviya also said that to make India self-sufficient in manufacturing key materials and products and to reduce our dependence on other countries, we have identified several APIs and started manufacturing them in the country itself. “We must now expect to be agile in the face of global competition. We must focus on other aspects such as international partners, global supply chains, implementation of digital expertise. Our own requirement increases as accessibility to health increases, so such conferences help bring all stakeholders together and develop a plan for the future,” he said.

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