India’s MedTech and IVD industry – Making its presence felt and the future is thumping

It is indeed a matter of pride to learn that India is amongst the top 20 global medical devices market, and is ranked fourth in Asia after Japan, China, and South Korea. As per the projection, in the next couple of decades India’s medical devices industry has the potential to be the global leader in production and innovation with a net worth of USD 50 billion.

Research and development of high-end medical equipment, diagnostic tools and procedures, and the adoption of digital technology are the strength of India’s medical and IVD industry. What can best illustrate these three aspects better than the way we as a nation handled the recent pandemic? Covid-19 was a devastation worldwide, to say the least. The enormous loss of human lives, economic devastation, and irreparable psychological and social breakdown will remain in our minds forever. The challenges it threw was something new, something we have never foreseen. When all of a sudden, the country came to a grinding halt in 2020 and the deadly virus forced the world to become islands of secluded humanity, we and other developing countries faced the challenge of broken supply chain. First time we felt the urgent need of an N95 mask to breathe that air in. To our despair, the mask became a scarce commodity as the country it came from was itself struggling to meet its own demand. Next to appear in that list were hand sanitizers, diagnostic kits, PPE kits, etc. The requirement was huge and the import had stopped. The demand for ventilators and ICU beds added to the challenge. As clinicians, we retrospect with horror and desperation what we all had faced. But the saying goes ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.’ India as a country stood up to the challenge. Our medical technology and IVD industry took up the baton and scripted what I believe was the golden era of self-realization and empowerment. Within a couple of months, the healthcare market was flooded with sanitizers, diagnostic tools, PPE kits, and N95 masks of all sizes and shapes. Temporary state-of-the-art hospitals with all modern amenities sprang up overnight.

India took up the opportunity to bolster its manufacturing potential and technical knowhow to not only fulfill the demands of its domestic consumption but also projected its capability to export to less-privileged countries. When our laboratories started churning out two highly efficient Covid-19 vaccines, we all understood why India is called the pharmacy of the world. It is not only realizing our capability to step up production and innovate when the necessity arises, something not less than a miracle had happened after that. It was the dream digital adaptation of software and apps when it came to the systematic vaccination of the world’s most populous nation. The way vaccination was conducted in a controlled systematic manner, first the most susceptible population, then the next age group followed by children as safety data became more robust along with the help of mobile apps for scheduling and follow up of information regarding vaccination, oxygen beds, and ICU beds will be written in golden letters in history. It showed our soft power, resolve, and discipline which is very important when we want to grow as a manufacturing hub.

We have demonstrated to the world what we can achieve when we set our goals right. The government backed the growth story with timely introduction of Indian certification of medical devices and incentivized schemes to streamline and simplify the red tapism.

The medical devices rules introduced in 2017 and the National Medical Devices (NMD) policy of 2023 aim to accelerate the growth of medical devices sector. In tune with the Atmanirbhar Bharat and vocal for local initiatives, the government is trying to promote a culture of innovation and research to meet the growing demands and aspirations of a confident India. With growth of the economic status and spending capability of the society, the demand for high-end medical care is bound to grow; so will the demand for preventive and screening technologies. The growth of the industry will be a welcome step in the right direction.