With a view to ensure that domestic medical devices manufacturers get a fair chance to showcase their potential in the Indian market, the medical devices industry wants the government to at least now announce a buy India preferential policy in all public health tenders for all new tenders. The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) insisted that without such policies and initiatives to spur the growth of the industry, the domestic manufacturers will frizzle out from its existence.
The Association stressed that that Indian companies have the wherewithal like technology or financial resources but it needs a conducive and competitive policy environment for manufacturing success. However, they insisted that without the active government support, there is no way that the industry can survive and match the competition from the likes of China and US.
Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator of AIMED stressed that the industry is slated to grow to the size of US$ 30 billion by 2022. However, flawed duty structure, absence of domestic preferential procurement policy and current regulatory structure are some of the key reasons inhibiting the growth. He said that if things continue like this, the remaining surviving domestic manufactures will also turn into importers.
Pointing to the recent case of AD syringe tender by the Central government, where importers of Chinese products were L1, Nath said, “How can one compete with such highly subsidized products coming from China? The margins are razor-thin here.” He also drew attention to the latest case of China refusing to supply the much needed additional 16 million doses of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine citing reason of capacity constraint but trade expert calling it a Chinese tactics for raising vaccine prices.
“So we are being blackmailed and if we do not enhance our own domestic capacity we should be ready for such blackmailing and unethical trade practices. And ironically, we will only have ourselves to blame for not recognizing and encouraging the domestic market when there was time and opportunity for the same. It is high time for the government to stop ignoring the ground realities and acknowledge the problems plaguing the industry by finally setting forth a foolproof roadmap to promote the industry first within the country and then globally. How will the global players have confidence in the Indian products when the government themselves prefer cheap Chinese products compared to Indian ones,” observed Nath.
Citing recent incidence, he stressed that the government's hypocratic approach can be seen from its action that, though India has developed the vaccine indigenously, the government’s Rs 3,355 crore-immunization programme to control the disease remains dependent on supplies from China. It is understood that, intelligence agencies have warned that over-dependence on China for key vaccines and for sourcing of raw material used in medicines can pose a serious threat to India's healthcare system.