Central Government is currently evaluating the possibility to develop a dedicated medical device testing lab for material testing of high end medical devices at the upcoming National Centre of Medical Devices (NCMD), Ahmedabad.

“The medical device testing lab will  be integrated with NCMD to facilitate research and testing under one roof for the betterment of the sector,” according to an official associated with the development.

The idea behind setting up a dedicated lab for material testing is that the country as of today does not have such facility and this is urgently required more so because multinational firms importing high end medical devices have their own dedicated set up for material testing. This, according to an expert, also has a bearing on the pricing and competitiveness of the imported products which are considered superior vis-a-vis the indigenous ones.

Besides this, products are usually sent to foreign countries for testing due to lack of a reliable and advanced medical device testing facility in the country. Though the government plans to set up two medical device testing labs in the country at Vadodara in Gujarat and another at Noida, medical device testing lab in Gujarat would be the first dedicated biomaterials and implants testing lab in the country.

The lab at Noida will be set up primarily to test electrical and electronic medical devices in the country which will also support country’s first government funded medical device park- Andhra Med Tech Zone (AMTZ) at Visakhapatnam which has a dedicated set -up for testing high end diagnostic equipment like imaging equipment like CT scan and MRI scan.   

The Union Health Ministry in consultation with Government of Gujarat has also recently sanctioned an amount of Rs. 15 crore towards setting up a dedicated medical device testing lab at Vadodara for the first time in the country to help Indian manufacturers gain self-reliance in medical device testing in the country.

Recommended and promoted by the Union commerce ministry, the country’s flagship project will be developed in partnership with Union health ministry with technical support from Healthcare Technology Division of National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), a technical support institution under the Union health ministry.

Meanwhile, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Ahmedabad has also sent a fresh proposal to the DoP to sanction an amount of around Rs. 150 crore to initiate setting up a centre of excellence for strengthening academic research and development of skilled manpower for medical devices sector.