The import of pre-owned medical devices has become a bone of contention, as a forum representing domestic makers disagreed with industry body FICCI on the issue.

In a strongly worded communication, the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (Aimed) said importing pre-owned medical devices would deliver a “body blow to domestic manufacturers of medical devices and equipment, which have urged the Central Government to withdraw the official memorandum (OM) permitting the import of pre-owned medical devices.”

“Nothing could have been worse than what FICCI Medical Devices Division is doing at the behest of MNCs (multinationals) lobby,” said Aimed forum coordinator Rajiv Nath, alleging the industry body was working against the interest of domestic medical devices manufacturers. “Its ‘Un-make in India’ campaign amounts to bulldozing the Make in India dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he added .

Countering Aimed, a statement from FICCI’s Medical Devices Committee said, it dismissed as “baseless” the allegations against the 95-years-plus organisation. FICCI is the oldest apex national chamber of commerce and and industry, working in the interests of the country for almost a century, it said, adding that it worked “beyond the narrow sectoral interests that some industry associations may represent.” 

Confusing investors

Nath’s contention was, the decision to permit import of pre-owned medical devices was in contravention to India’s recently launched National Medical Device Policy-2023 that sought to make the  country self-reliant and be an exporter.The official memorandum is a regressive step that has confused investors who have been putting up manufacturing capacities in the last few years in response to the PM’s call, he added.

Suresh Vazirani, Chairman of India’s largest IVD company, Transasia Bio-Medicals, cautioned against allowing free imports of “old, used and discarded medical equipment” from other countries. “India’s retrograde policy will allow Western countries to ship all old equipment to India and thereby prevent their own countries from getting environmentally polluted with discarded pollutants in medical equipment,” he said.

Gaurav Agarwal, Managing Director, Innvolution Healthcare added, “the utilization of refurbished equipment under the guise of C-arms and advanced X-ray systems for performing catheterization procedures is both misleading and potentially hazardous.” Against India’s need of 500 Cath Labs a year, local manufacturers have the capacity to manufacture more than 600 Cath Labs which play a critical role in diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases, he said. Further, the representatives pointed out,  Indian medical device manufacturers exported equipment to over 100 countries across the world, meeting international standards and safety certification.

Increase access

Pointing out that it was aligned to the PM’s vision, the FICCI MDC statement said, the Government had “an inter-ministerial committee to decide that the list of high-end and high-value equipment not manufactured in the country under stringent quality restrictions should be allowed to be imported to increase access to tier II and tier III cities. The imported refurbished equipment should be of very high quality providing precise diagnosis and treatment at affordable costs in India.”

“FICCI’s representations to the Govt are widely consulted, debated and then agreed upon by all members, including Indian companies,” it said. The “irresponsible statements” against it were filled with malice” and obstructed the system of making the right policy decision in the country’s best interests, it added.