Medical technology has been instrumental in extending healthcare by wayof improving care, alleviating pain, injury, etc. Thus an incessant innovativemedical technology landscape is more than requiredBy Sharmila Das, ENN.
The medical technologysector has been witnessingsignificant growthover the years. Some expertssay, it is going to bethe next Pharma boom for the country.Presently the size of medical technologymarket pegged at ` 25, 000 crore,
75 percent of which consist only importproducts.
| NUTS & BOLTS Medical technology(Medtech) companiesare acceleratingtheir investments inemerging markets, andIndia is a prime targetbecause of its largepopulation, growingmiddle class, andimproving healthcareinfrastructure. Indiaranks in the top threeemerging nations fordirect investment bylarge, multinationalMedtech companies Source: India Medical TechnologyReport 2012 by Pwc |
The growth drivers
Medical technology or the popularshort form med-tech has come of age.Matching with Indias huge unmetdemand for quality healthcare, theindustry has developed a range ofboth high-end and cost-effective solutions.Yet, there is a lot of scope tohave an effective and innovative use ofmedical technology, supported by ICT,which has the potential of increasingaccess, significantly reducing the burdenof disease and the load on healthcaredelivery services through earlydiagnosis, better clinical outcomes,less invasive procedures and shorterrecovery times.
A transforming medical technologylandscape, improving healthcaredelivery and financing mechanisms,and changing patient profile are drivinggrowth in the medical technologyindustry. However, the industry hasbeen stifled by some key impedimentsto growth.
The foremost among these isthe lack of – affordability, accessibility,awareness and availability. A keyquestion, therefore, is how to increasepenetration of medical technology toimprove health outcomes in India?
The answer lies in innovation.Medical technology innovation canbe the tool to make modern care accessible,available and affordable toall by lowering the cost of the productor delivery. CII report says, forinnovation to make an impact, collaborationbetween the stakeholdersin the medical technology ecosystemis a key success factor. The industrymust move from company-centricinnovation, towards co-creation. Allstakeholders government, industry,academia, healthcare and insuranceproviders – need to co-ordinate/strategise and move in step for theiractions to resonate and bring aboutlasting change.
Rajmohan Nair, Head – Marketingand Partner Sales 21st Century says,Technology innovations in healthcarecan reduce the over head and operationalcosts. For example, just to connectbetween patients, doctors andhealthcare institutions in a mass, amobile health has shown a tremendoustransformation in rural healthcare.The key challenge is now to be able tocombine progress in patient care withprogress in overall productivity of thehealthcare programmes. Incrementalof changing technology in stages wouldideal for healthcare, since healthcareis not global. It is local, sensitive, complex,multidimensional and individualpatient centric. Our solutions are focussingthese elements and we are workingtowards bring in technologies thatwill collaborates all stake-holders of theecosystem.
Like
Dislike
Be a part of Elets Collaborative Initiatives. Join Us for Upcoming Events and explore business opportunities. Like us on Facebook , connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter , Instagram.
