India takes 2nd spot among global PPE kit manufacturers

New Delhi: Applauding the contribution of the Indian pharmaceutical industry during Covid-19, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister DV Sadanand Gowda has expressed confidence that it will also strive to develop anti-Covid vaccine and make it available to the people at a cheaper rate.

Gowda was addressing a webinar organised by Invest India Pharma Bureau and Department of Pharmaceuticals last evening. The webinar, organised through video conference, was based on investment capacity assessment in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry sector, a Government of India initiative, infrastructure and emerging opportunities in the sector.

The Union Minister also emphasised that the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the medical device industry have the potential to move forward. He said: “It is a matter of pride for me and crores of Indians that India, once dependent on imports, has reached the second place in the world in terms of manufacture and supply of PPE kits and it is producing more than 5 lakh PPE kits daily.”

Similarly, in the case of ventilators, India has expanded its production capacity in a very short time and the indigenous production capacity has reached 3 lakh per annum. The Union Minister said that there was no shortage of medicines during the pandemic and drug prices remained stable. Gowda said that this goal has been achieved with better coordination between various departments and institutions of the Central Government, State Governments and the private sector.

He stressed the need for development of indigenous medical devices. He said that it has a big role in making health services affordable and accessible. Also, the equipment is important in various requirements for screening, screening, advanced surgical requirements for treatment, monitoring of health index.

He said that the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a number of measures to boost domestic capacity in the field of pharmaceutical production and medical device production. It aims to develop, in coordination with State Governments and private sector, three drug parks and three large medical equipment parks across the country. It aims to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of 53 complex APIs or key starting materials (KSMs) and medical devices, for which India is currently fully dependent on imports.

Gowda said that he is fully confident that this park will be able to attract huge investment and state-of-the-art technology. He said that India’s pharmaceutical industry sector will become self-sufficient in 2 to 3 years due to business-friendly policies of the Central Government under the leadership of Narendra Modi. “It will not only be able to cater to the domestic needs but will also be able to cater to the needs of high quality medicines and medical devices at a cheaper rate,” the Union Minister said.

The Central Government’s plans to develop a drug production and medical equipment production park are expected to generate Rs 78,000 crore investment and 2.5 lakh jobs in the country.

Also read in Hindi: दुनिया में PPE Kit बनाने वाले देशों में भारत दूसरे स्थान पर पहुंचा: सदानंद गौड़ा