6th PharmaMed HD- Transforming the perception of Indian Healthcare Industry, 17th September 2019, PHD House, New Delhi

New Delhi, September 25, 2019: PHD Chamber in association with Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Govt. of India & Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India organized 6^th PharmaMed HD- Transforming the Perception of Indian HealthCare Industry on 17th September  2019 at PHD House, New Delhi with a focus area and objective that India is emerging as a healthcare destination and the industry is looking forward to contribute more significantly to the health care delivery of the nation as well as across the globe.

Inaugural Session:

Hon’ble Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri D V SadanandaGowda congratulated PHD Chamber for organizing the 6th PharmaMed HD and said that the Indian industry can give a big push to the growth of healthcare sector in the country.  “Industry an important pillar for growth of the healthcare sector and millions of jobs to be created”, he said.  He further emphasized that the thrust of the government is on facilitating the industry to ensure the best healthcare delivery to the citizens for making India- a global leader in quality healthcare.

Shri. Gowda said that the sector is expected to generate employment for 40 million people by 2020. He added that the government is taking several initiatives such as 100% FDI for pharma sector, Greenfield investment opportunities, flagship schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana and setting up of R&D centres to give a boost to the sector. 

Dr. D. K. Aggarwal,Sr. Vice President, PHD Chamber said that there is a significant scope for enhancing healthcare services considering the major impetus of Government oh Healthcare for all. He said that rural India accounts for over 70 per cent of the population and is set to emerge as a potential demand source for the industry.

While giving a theme address Dr. T S Kler, Chairman, Health Committee, PHD Chamber said that there are serious efforts of the industry to ensure the best patient care delivery system, so much so that we attract international patients and on the other, there are gaps in form of mistakes or lack of compliance with the regulations.  A lot of these are rightly and wrongly splashed across the media without going into deep analysis and methodologies to rectify the genuine and no so genuine errors. These non-business challenges are beginning to take centre-stage which is definitely casting concerns on all the stakeholders of the Pharma, Medical Devices and Healthcare Delivery industry.

This is greatly impacting the perception of the Indian healthcare industry in the domestic and international arena which in turn is also raising credibility issues in our export markets of Pharma products as also the international patients coming to India for their treatment.

Dr. Kler further recommended that Uniformity of standards needs to be bought in Indian Healthcare Sector and minimum bar needs to be there. He also said that international patient market is a non regulated market right now in India; the international patient coming to India taken to hospital without any credibility so there should be some guidelines for treating international patients like there should be there should be some accredited hospitals only where the foreign patients should be treated not every hospital should be allowed to treat those patients as the dignity of the nation is involved

Prof. Bejon Mishra, Chairman, Public Health Committee, PHD Chamber said on the first world patient safety day the industry and govt. should give priority to the safety of the consumer or patient.India lags far behind developed nations in the public health arena, with clean drinking water, adequate nutrition, sanitation and access to healthcare being long-standing challenges.

Prof. Misra said that when u demand a quality u will get will get quality, if you don’t demand u will not get. He further added that the biggest gift Modi Government has given to this country is Ayushman Bharat which anyone could ever thought about and another one is Jan Aushadhi for ensuring accessibility and affordability.

Prof. Misra recommended that we need to take Jan Aushadhi as our mission where 50 cr patients & 1.5 lacs Wellness Centers under Ayushman Bharat should be linked with Jan Aushadhi.

Mr. Bhargav Kotadia, Managing Director, Sahajanand Medical Technologies congratulated PHD Chamber for organizing a timely PharmaMed HD 2019, especially on a day that marks the 1^st WHO Global patient Safety Day. Mr. Bhargava further added that today India presents itself as a glowing opportunity for healthcare innovators and domestic entreprenurers due to flagship schemes like Ayushman Bharat and the make-in-India campaign. Engaging the private sector through a larger PPP model, we can significantly enhance the reach of affordable and accessible healthcare, especially to the undeserved. At SMT, we care deeply about patients and provide the best in class globally acclaimed products, to make a meaningful difference to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Healthcare for All’. 

Dr. Jitender Sharma, Medical Technology Industry expert explains about the Medical Devices industry growth chart and said that In 2014 Government of India has created Rs. 12000 crores Medical Device market by launching National Health Programmes under PPP. He has also explained about many programmes like National dialysis programme, National pathology programme, National teleradiology programme and National CT Scan programme.  Dr. Sharma further given information about the growth story of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) which has created technology transfer network for the industry. He further said about the National medical Device Promotion Council which studies more than 600 tenders to find out errors and brings the issues to the notice of State and Central Government.

Dr. Sharma finally conclude that we should be proud of what we have done together, we should be proud of the way the govt. has taken bold steps, initiatives, progressive policies like correction of inverted custom duties, preferential market access policy for Indian makers under make in India, 50% of the tenders are reserved for those who do 30% value addition in India.

Mr Vivek Seigell, Principal Director, PHD Chamber said that the theme of the Conference was conceived taking into consideration that despite the immense contribution of this sector (and its sub-sectors both in Private health and Public health) in providing healthcare facilities to the citizens in the country, the mainline media is showing the doctors, pharma companies and retailers and hospitals in dim light which is neithervery encouraging nor very supportive.

He further added that the Chamber has started working with Department of Pharmaceuticals 5 years back for expansion of PMBJP stores where we were trying to sustain 90 stores only and with the support of the Ministry, we went to all the stake holders including chemists, doctors to start prescribing generics and now with 5800 stores, we have gone to the second phase on educating these chemists on Good Pharmacy Practices.  He also said that there is a lot of scope for medical device industry to make its mark on the globe and be a leader in this sector.  

Panel Discussion 1: “Brand Indian Healthcare Industry & its perception”.

Caption L-R: Mr. Vivek Seigell, Principal Director, PHD Chamber, Mr. Shyam Bang, Director, Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd, Dr. (Prof.) R. K. Goyal, Vice Chancellor, Delhi Pharmaceutical Science & Research University, Shri. Sudhansh Pant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Mr. HimanshuBaid, Managing Director, Poly Medicure Ltd, Mr. Sachin  Kumar Singh, CEO, BPPI and Dr. Naveen Nishchal,  Co-Founder  Cygnus Hospitals

In the post inaugural session Shri Sudhansh Pant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India Chaired the 1^st Panel Discussion on Brand Indian Healthcare Industry and its perception. Shri Pant said that there is a plan of more than Rs. 10,000 crores investment for the total revamp of the AIIMS which includes new academic block, new hospital blocks and segregation of residential from the clinical site. This all is in process and will be fructify in next four years. 

Shri. Pant further added that National Medical Commission (NMC) bill passed last month in the Government where Medical Council of India (MCI) is going to replace with NMC. This shows the state of reforms in the medical education system which was long overdue and is now finally taking place in shape. Government because of its will and its commitment to the cause of reform in the medical education sector was able to see it through. Ayushman Bharat which includes Insurance coverage and creation of Health & Wellness centers becomes the game changing reforms in the healthcare sector.

Dr. (Prof.) R. K. Goyal, Vice Chancellor, Delhi Pharmaceutical Science & Research Universitysaid that our industry should have a confidence and public should be educated about what achievements the industry have got weather it is a pharma industry where Jan Aushadhi medicines are the classic example that we could change the perception of the public that generic medicines are equally good.

Mr. Sachin Kumar Singh, CEO, BPPI said that India is the Pharmacy of Earth. He further added that Perception is the most vital thing in the creation of any brand. Perception of the people weather the glass is half empty or half filled makes the entire difference and we have to fight with the perception that quality medicine cannot be cheaper and medicines available at low cost cannot be of same quality.

Mr. HImanshuBaid, Managing Director, Poly Medicure Ltd said that Indian MedTech industry is evolving and it is bound to witness a transformation. Currently, the industry lacks transparency, clarity on regulations and quality standards. If we don’t regulate, we will have sub-standard products, which will tarnish the image of the industry.

He further added that on the manufacturing side, he would recommend the companies should invest in Clinical Activity, Engage Key Opinion Leaders, invest in training. India has global leadership in many devices such as I.V. Catheters, Surgical Blades, Stents, IVD’s but needs to building competency across all medical devices verticals. With the support from the Government, investment in R&D and innovation will boost the industry. Once the Trade Margin Rationalization, Uniformity in the Regulation and Quality Standards are established in Medical Devices, it would help the industry to reach the level what Pharma has achieved today.

Dr. Naveen Nischal,Co-Founder, Cygnus Hospitals Said that brand is not limited to logo, marketing material and branding but the brand has a very strong and intangible impact on our mind and heart and we have to set certain expectation about the brand. Brand should go with vision and mission. If you want to check health of a brand we need to create awareness of brand and if we don’t create awareness, people will not be able to judge you. The brand delivery is the ultimate thing where we need to be more service oriented.

Mr. Shyam Bang, Director, Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd said that we need to assess where do we stand and we need to improve. Brand represents customer satisfaction and customer engagement.

Mr. Bang appreciated the Generic Sector of Indian industry and said that anyone in the world wants to import generic medicine, looks at the India as their first choice and that’s the stage we have received when we talk about the branding image, which have been created by Indian pharma industry. He further added that 20% of the generic drugs sold globally are made in India which is a thing of pride. He also said that India is the only country having the largest number

Panel Discussion 2: “India’s tryst to be a Global Medical Devices Leader: Share in $169 billion Market”.

Caption: L-R: Mr. Chittaranjan, AiMED, Mr.BhargavKotadia, Managing Director, Sahajanand Medical Technologies, Prof. Bejon Misra, Chairman, Public Health Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Vivek Seigell, Principal Director, PHD Chamber, Dr.V. G. Somani, Drug Controller General of India, CDSCO, Dr. K.  L. Ramesh, Advisor, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Mr. Agnideep Mukherjee, Director, KIHT and Coordinator, NMDPC and Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Sr. Physician, Apollo Hospital 

Dr V G Somani, Drug Controller General of India, CDSCO Chaired the 2nd Panel Discussion on Medical Devices. Dr. Somani said that the paradigm of healthcare delivery mechanism is evolving as never before and India is taking a giant leap. With the focus of the government on making healthcare more accessible to masses hence the steps being taken to regulate the pharma and medical devices in the country has become more important and prudent, so as to ensure quality healthcare to the masses. 

Mr. Bhargav Kotadiya, Managing Director, Sahajanand Medical Technology Pvt. Ltd said that Medical Device industry is emerging as a sunrise sector of the healthcare industry and we are ready to provide our technology to the world by exporting our devices to the developed nations.

The Indian Medical Device industry is $5 billion industry which is growing at more than 15% every year and we are likely to hit 9 billion by 2020.

He has discussed about the “Value innovation” theory; how can a company or a firm innovate on any given product by improving the value of a product itself while reducing the cost and the SMT has proved the theory by reducing the cost with latest generation features. SMT became the first company to deliver the biodegradable stent made in India.

Mr. Kotadiya finally said that the scarcity of resource, the scarcity of funding leads to the true and genuine innovation because at that point you are forced to reconcile of how to make something better while dealing with the constraints of resources. 

Mr. Agnideep Mukherjee,Director, KIHT and Coordinator, NMDPC gave the information about the AMTZ working and the facilities provided under AMTZ like Kalam Institute of Health Technology  (KIHT) which is a policy think tank for medical devices and NMDPC which focuses on the aspects & issues of industry manufacturers to go individually and seek the regulatory approvals.

Mr. Mukherjee further said that DPIIT has come up with a public procurement policy and we have to see that how much it has been implemented and if the stakeholders largely take the best use of the policy.

He further explained about the two incubator facilities of AMTZ i.e. Biovalley and Medivalley.

Other eminent dignitaries present were Dr. K.  L. Ramesh, Advisor, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Sr. Physician, Apollo Hospital and Mr.ChittaRanjan from AiMED.