The Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers), Dr. Arunish Chawla (1988-batch IAS officer), kickstarted the ambitious “MEDITECH STACKATHON 2024” in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi on May 7th. The STACKATHON is nothing short of a groundbreaking initiative designed to bring transformative change within India’s burgeoning MedTech sector by undertaking a comprehensive value chain analysis of select medical devices. Through close consultation with industry leaders, policymakers, and experts, the STACKATHON aims to address critical challenges, foster domestic manufacturing, and reduce import dependence to position India as a global leader in the domain of medical technology.

The ambitious program was launched in the coveted presence of the Joint Secretary (Department of Pharmaceuticals), Mr. RP Singh, and Chairperson of the CII-National Medical Technology Forum, Mr. Himanshu Baid and other senior officials.

During the event, Mr. Arunish Chawla emphasized the importance of policymakers, and industry coming together to draw up a sturdy policy stack for the growth of the medical devices industry in the country. He cited how India’s MedTech industry holds immense potential, with projections estimating a growth rate of 28% annually, reaching a size of USD 50 billion by 2030. He said that currently, India is the 4th largest market for medical devices in Asia and among the top 20 globally. Net imports for 2022-23 stands at USD 4101 Million with an import coverage ratio of 0.45.

Through the STACKATHON, participants will delve into the complexities of different product segments within the medical devices industry to gain insights into their unique challenges and opportunities, analyze and map value chains across various segments of the medical devices industry to identify key stakeholders, processes, and dependencies, identify critical issues hindering the development of the medical devices industry, such as import dependence, regulatory hurdles, and technological gaps, Dr Chawla said in his address.

The STACKATHON would deliberate in eight focused groups namely Cancer Therapy, Imaging, Critical Care, Assistive Medical Devices, Body Implants, Surgical instruments and Hospital Equipment, Consumables & Disposables, and IVD Instruments and reagents, each tasked with specific objectives including segment-wise identification of important medical devices, assessment of import-export dynamics, examination of duty structures, and their implications across the entire value chain.

Many believe that this is an important step to harness the collective expertise of stakeholders to propel the industry towards unprecedented heights of innovation and self-reliance.