Becton Dickinson India has now urged the Union government to engage private healthcare providers into the Universal Health Assurance Mission. Calling it an ambitious project, the company outlined the need to integrate medical devices into national health plans, besides establish a framework for regulation and enforcement.

“With 75 per cent of health services in India being currently provided by the private sector, there is an urgent need to engage the private sector to help realise the ‘healthcare for all’ goal of the government.  We are willing to assist in ensuring quality healthcare made available”,  said Varun Khanna, managing director, BD India.

At the two-day 11th India Health Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held at New Delhi from December 17-18, Khanna expressed the need to increase access to safe devices, especially in low-resource settings and far flung areas of the country.

Medical devices are an integral part of modern medicine. Given the specialised nature of devices, most Indians are not aware about their life-saving potential.

“To create an equitable public health impact, medical care needs to be accessible and safe. The need of the hour is to improve health parameters. What needs is innovations in healthcare that can deliver the benefits of medical technology to the doorsteps of people, especially to those living beyond the cities,” he pointed out.

India is hugely under served by its healthcare industry which is largely fragmented and focussed on urban areas.  Key issues that need to be addressed relate to improving public health, empowering patients to self-monitor their health, setting up harmonised regulatory processes and ensuring universally standardised medical devices.

According to Punit Kohli, business director, BD Diagnostics and Biosciences the low levels of expenditure on health lead to low levels of expenditure on medical devices. Most of these people can be saved with access to safe and lifesaving medical technology. “We are willing to engage with the government and relevant stakeholders to ensure quality healthcare is accessible in all healthcare settings”, he said.