New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) The MedTech sector is a key pillar of health transformation in India, said Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 11th Asia Pacific MedTech Forum (APACMed) 2025 via a video message, he highlighted the importance of the MedTech sector for accessible, affordable healthcare and innovation.

“The MedTech sector is a key pillar of health transformation in India. The sector’s broad scope encompasses diagnostics, advanced devices, digital health, and AI-driven solutions — all contributing to making healthcare more accessible, efficient, and affordable for every citizen,” Nadda said.

He stated that the sector has become a trusted provider of high-quality healthcare, supported by the government’s focus on access, innovation, and infrastructure development.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel highlighted several major government initiatives undertaken to strengthen India’s MedTech and medical devices sector.

These include a new scheme for supporting component manufacturing, development of common infrastructure, branding, and conducting critical market and clinical studies.

“India is emerging as not only a high-volume manufacturer but also a high-value player in the global MedTech market. The next leap will come from collaborations, and I invite all stakeholders to join India in co-creating solutions that will serve both our 1.4 billion citizens and the broader healthcare needs of emerging markets,” said Patel.

“The medical technology sector is being recognised as a sunrise sector,” she added.

She also emphasised the government’s investor-friendly policies, including 100 per cent FDI in medical devices, the establishment of an Export Promotion Council, and the formation of a National Medical Devices Promotion Council to improve ease of doing business and broaden export opportunities.

Further, Dr. Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, outlined the series of transformative measures undertaken by the government in recent years to boost innovation, R&D, affordability, and domestic manufacturing in the medical devices sector.

He highlighted the National Medical Devices Policy, 2023, as a landmark step that sets out a comprehensive framework for holistic sectoral growth. This is complemented by the Policy on R&D and Innovation in the Pharma-MedTech sector, the development of Medical Devices Parks modeled on the Andhra MedTech Zone, a Productivity Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, and the launch of the Promotion of Research and Innovation in the Pharma-MedTech Sector (PRIP) — popularly known as the BRICS scheme.

The two-day forum, being held from 16-17 September, brought together senior policymakers, global industry leaders, regulators, and healthcare experts from more than 10 countries across the Asia Pacific region to align strategies for shaping India’s MedTech roadmap in line with the Prime Minister’s Healthcare Vision 2030 and Viksit Bharat 2047.

–IANS

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