The foundation stone of India’s first exclusive medical device manufacturing park - Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone - was laid today at Nadupur village of Pedda Gantyada Mandal in Vishakhapatnam by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Among the dignitaries who were present on the occasion included Union ministers Venkaih Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Andhra health minister Kameini Srinivas, WHO Representative Henk Benkedam, representatives of Indian medical device industry including Rajiv Nath and a galaxy of other notable personalities.

AMTZ, the 270-acre exclusive manufacturing zone is the result of MoU signed between the state government and AiMeD nine months back with a view to promote manufacturing of hi-tech and high-end medical devices within the country with a view to encourage domestic manufacturing, reduce India’s humungous import dependency in medical devices, generate quality employment and bring down overall healthcare cost for average citizen. The exclusive tech zone will have the state-of-the-art and the best global facilities for R&D, manufacturing, testing, export & regulatory facilitations and logistics. AMTZ is only the third such exclusive facility for manufacturing of medical devices in the world.
 
It will house over 200 medical devices manufacturing units.
 
AMTZ will have common manufacturing facilities, plug & play modeled, ready to move in built-up, pre-approved and Factory Act compliant factories.

“We will reduce the cost of healthcare with local production of medical devices. We will create common infrastructure for you - the local industry of world class and assure you of all clearances within 15 days," said Chandarababu Naidu.

"The AMTZ project will be a game changer for India in the field of healthcare. This has global consequences, from being pharmacy of the world to being the medical devices manufacturing hub of the world," said WHO India Representative Henk Bekedam.

“The launch of AMTZ is the dawn of a new era in the history of medical devices and electronic industry in India. We at AiMeD are extremely happy that our efforts have fructified into this momentous occasion. We profusely thank Chandrababu Naidu and central government for sharing our vision and wishing India to be among the top 5 medical device manufacturing hubs of the world. We at AiMeD applaud Naidu’s leadership and his teams for taking steps to turn this into a reality within 9 months of our initial discussions with him last November,” said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMeD.

“Medical device manufacturing could be the next big thing for Indian economy after the IT revolution. This facility is not only a big milestone for the country which will catapult India into the league of top medical equipment producing countries in the world but equally important it will help bring down overall healthcare cost while ensuring tremendous saving in terms of foreign exchange,” pointed out Nath.