Subsequent to foundation stone laying of India’s first exclusive medical device manufacturing park - Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) in Vishakhapatnam by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, the first step towards implementing the same would start with inviting potential investors from October 2, 2016 onwards.

According to an official associated with the development, “As a step towards initiating the process for involving and inviting potential investors for the medical device park, bookings would start from October 2, 2016 followed with shortlisting eligible investors based on a selection criteria subsequent to the booking process.”

Over 50 companies have shown interest and 38 companies have already submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) letters subsequent to Andhra Pradesh government inviting EoI letters from potential investors.

Proposed to be built on 271 acres of land with a seed capital of Rs. 25 crore, AMTZ will set up in-house high capital intensive common scientific facilities helping medical device manufacturers reduce the cost of manufacturing in the country.

Andhra Pradesh government has also issued appointment orders for Dr Jitendar Sharma, head of health technology department at National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) under the Union health ministry and advisor - health and medical technology to government of Andhra Pradesh to be the chief executive officer for the AMTZ project. Manish Gangal has joined as vice president (operations) and Nitin Bharadwaj as vice -president (administration & HR) along with a senior team of experts and technical consultants.

The medical device park is proposed to have all such facilities in-house that are required for specialized product verticals to reduce manufacturing process costs. The park will provide modern state of art common facilities such as specialised laboratories, warehousing, testing centre apart from 150 to 200 independent manufacturing units, each in a built-in ready to use area of 0.5 to 1 acre each.

The AMTZ with in-house high investment scientific facilities would help manufacturers reduce the cost of manufacturing by more than 40 per cent to 50 per cent. Currently, due to lack of such centrally located shareable facilities, either manufacturers do not undertake production of technologies requiring them or send their products abroad for process up-gradation and value addition. While the zone would have all such facilities in-house to reduce manufacturing process costs, it would be located in an area which is well connected with railways, roadways, waterways and airways with near presence of industrial corridors, port and harbour to reduce logistical costs.

The zone will provide for certain capital intensive facilities required by most medical device manufacturers and modern state of art 150 to 200 independent manufacturing units, each of a built-in ready to use area of 0.5 to 1 acre. Government of Andhra Pradesh would develop approximately 271 acres of land for this project.

AMTZ would include following facilities over an area of 150 acres like component testing centre, electro-magnetic interference laboratory, medical grade low vacuum molding, cabinet molding, injection molding centres, 3- D designing and printing for medical grade products, sterilization & toxicity testing centre, radiation testing centre, warehousing, regulator’s office and other facilities commonly required in manufacturing of medical devices.

All investment towards land development and building of common facilities as above would be done by the Government of Andhra Pradesh through formation of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The manufacturers would be provided with a built up area of 0.5 acre to 1 acre per manufacturing unit, over a total area of 150 acres. The interiors of the respective unit would be carried out by manufacturers themselves to cater to specific brand needs. Services of all common facilities would be extended to manufacturers that have production base in the zone at subsidized and nominal costs.

A dedicated medical devices park would be of immense help in reducing import dependency, increasing export while generating wealth and employment within the country.
 
Indian medical device industry is worth over Rs. 60,000 crore and country's import bill for this segment amounts to over Rs. 23,000 crore while export amounts to only over Rs. 7,000 crore. India's import dependency on high-end medical devices is over 80 per cent and 60 per cent to 70 per cent for other devices.