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Kalam Institute of Health Technology all set to launch medical technology e-auction
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Arun Srinivasan, New Delhi
January 24 , 2018
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Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT), India’s flagship institute
dedicated to medical devices, is getting ready to launch its ambitious
e-auction programme.
The state-of-the-art institute, set up
under the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) project initiative, aims at
providing critical component knowledge to relevant institutions for
focused research and development.
“Several prototypes, developed
by researchers at IITs, universities and engineering colleges, are lying
in these institutions. Unless they reach the prospective manufacturers,
huge amounts invested for their research and development will not
benefit the indigenous industry and the public at large. The e-auction
programme will help resolve this issue,” a person with knowledge of the
matter told Pharmabiz.
“The programme will go on stream anytime soon and the software is getting finishing touches,” the person added.
The
institute has a separate cell for facilitating technology transfer and
scientific cooperation. It intends to connect with knowledge networks
such as national and international organisations, industry associations,
business councils, regulatory agencies and trade departments.
KIHT
is headed by a governing board comprising Association of Indian Medical
Device Industry (AiMED), Stanford-India Biodesign (SIB) Programme,
Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and other
member institutions.
According to AiMED Forum Coordinator Rajiv
Nath, the association will be coordinating with the country’s top
scientific institutions to compile a list of patents that have already
been filed for various technologies and then seek the government’s
permission to auction them. It will have strategies in place to decide
the priority diseases in the country and see the unavailable
technologies overseas. These unavailable technologies would be
illustrated for research purposes in India.
Currently, the county
imports more than 75 per cent of the medical devices required. In the
high-tech segment, the imports are to an extent of 95 per cent. Indian
medical device manufacturers have been pushing for constructive measures
to promote the domestic industry and reduce import dependency which
would get reflected in healthcare cost.
While hundreds of
prototypes developed by India’s top scientific institutions are lying
idle in various labs, the import dependency remains at 85 per cent for
products such as artificial dialysis apparatus and haemodialyser,
defibrillator, lithotripsy equipment, ECHO, EEG, ECG, anaesthesia
equipment, laparoscope and endoscope. The country imports even
diagnostic imaging products like X-ray tubes, CT scan and MRI and
consumables like cardiac catheter, syringe, suture and dialysers.
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