Medical Devices Park Scheme

Subject – Governance

Context – Centre notifies medical device parks’ scheme

Concept –

The Union government notified a scheme to promote medical device parks at a financial outlay of ₹400 crore till financial year 2024-2025.
The scheme aims to ensure easy access to testing and infrastructure facilities.
It is expected that this will bring down the cost of production of medical devices, thereby making them more affordable for domestic consumption, the Department of Pharmaceuticals said in a statement.
The financial assistance for a selected medical device park would be 90% of the project cost of common infrastructure facilities for the north-eastern and hilly States. For the rest, it would be 70%. However, a maximum assistance under the scheme for one such park will be ₹100 crore

Medical Devices –

The medical device industry is a unique blend of engineering and medicine. It involves the creation of machines that are used to support life within the human body.
Medical devices include Surgical Equipment, Diagnostic equipment like Cardiac imaging, CT scans, X-ray, Molecular Imaging, MRI and Ultrasound-imaging including hand – held devices; Life Support equipment like ventilator, etc. as well as Implants and Disposables.

Medical Devices Sector in India:

Medical devices sector in India is very small in size as compared to the rest of the manufacturing industry, though India is one of the top twenty markets for medical devices in the world and is the 4th largest market in Asia after Japan, China, and South Korea.
India currently imports 80-90% of medical devices of the USD15 billion market.
The US, Germany, China, Japan, and Singapore constitute the five largest exporters of high technology medical equipment to India.

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