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Inclusion of coronary stent in NLEM is weakening the industry sentiment: FICCI

 

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As the Indian medical device industry braces up for new opportunities, it remains tied up in the restrictive business environment. With the recent announcement on inclusion of coronary stent of all categories in National List of Essential Medicine the industry sentiment has further weakened.

Pharmaceutical formulations and medical devices are two inherently different sectors and cannot be dealt with by the same formula. “Unilateral and unsuitable price controls on Stents and Medical Devices will adversely affect the usage of innovative and high quality products in India and thus reduce the levels of patient outcomes. This will have an unfavourable impact on the Make in  India intentions and FDI inflow in the sector” said Mr. Probir Das, Chairman FICCI Medical Device Forum.

Industry feels, with the recent notification the access to latest technologies to patients in India is likely to be prohibited and will hugely impact both medical tourism which thrives on availability of latest medical technology, and clinical outcome for Indian patients. Attracting global investments for realizing Make in India would need a mature handling of policy decisions for this sector, to keep investor sentiment high and a positive outlook on investing in India for this sector.

Mr . Das added “Innovation and incremental improvement is the foundation of the medical devices sector that has to regularly invest in research and development for upgrading medical technology for the benefit of the patients. Price controls create disincentive for manufacturers to bring new technology to market.”

In no market around the world has access to high quality medical treatment improved without a combination of strong reimbursement mechanism and high quality medical technology adoption. Price control does not improve access.

It is time for the government, insurers, manufacturers, and providers to embrace common objectives and to acknowledge and fully support the crucial role of medical technology assessment in the enhancement of the quality of health care.