'Affordability and accessibility, need of the hour for Indian healthcare sector'

Sai Nikesh | The Dollar Business

Governor ESL Narasimhan lightening the lamp at the 2nd edition of Indo-Global Pharma Expo & Summit 2015 in Hyderabad on Thursday.

  An international-focused pharmaceutical event, namely Indo-Global Pharma Expo & Summit 2015, was conducted in the Pharma capital of India, Hyderabad, on Thursday. The second edition of the summit jointly organized by the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) of India, Federation of Telangana Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTAPCCI), other key industry partners, witnessed a participation of various industry experts from across the globe. Experts from healthcare sector, academicians, policy makers, research analysts, among others, took an active participation in the first day of the summit that is being held between July 23-26, 2015. Speaking to The Dollar Business, P V Appaji, Director General, Pharmexcil, said, “The second edition of the summit covering both health care and pharmaceutical industry, is focused at identifying various techniques available in India and also to identify joint venture partnerships from overseas, for the betterment Indian healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry.” He exuded confidence that the summit, which is involving large number of academic institutions, government representatives, hospital managements and pharmaceutical companies, will help in strengthening Indian pharma industry and boost India’s pharma exports’ performance. He further informed that several subjects like Nano Technology, Pharmacovigilance and manufacturing processes, among others, are currently under discussions between industry, academicians, and overseas institutions, State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Government of India. Srinubabu Gedela, Managing Director, Omics International, USA, one of the key organizers of the summit, said, “The three-day summit, which will be having 100 sessions is attracting large number of participants and is expected to witness a participation of around 4000 participants and 400 key speakers from across the globe.” Main focus areas of the summit include rural health, finding solutions to cost-effective medicine to make it affordable to a common man, he added. Responding to a query on the current status of Indian healthcare sector and pharmaceutical industry, D Balasubramanian, Director of Research, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, said, “Drugs are abundantly available, industry-wise performance is also good, but infections are growing rapidly mainly due to lack of proper sanitation methods.” Even though reach of Indian pharma products to overseas markets is satisfactory, the main challenges are seen in terms of delivery, accessibility, among others. And the governmental support to the Indian healthcare sector, in taking proper sanitary measures remains ‘nil’, he noted. Meanwhile, V P Sharma, Principal Scientist, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, said, “Indian healthcare industry is growing at a faster pace, key challenges are being addressed, however, there is a need to focus on improvising strategies by involving state-of-art technologies.” In the case of non-clinical aspects, there is a need to ensure that analytical capabilities and research-oriented approach are improved for a notable progress, he added. In his key note address, E S L Narasimhan, Governor of Telangana State, raised concerns bothering Indian healthcare sector. He said, “Even though the healthcare sector has been one of the largest sectors in India, the concerns continue to exist in case of affordability and accessibility taking into view, the rural India, which accounts for major share of country’s population.” In this regard, he urged the industry participants to focus on finding solutions in terms of affordability and accessibility in healthcare sector to solve the concerns of a common man. Pitching for a common Minimum Support Price in healthcare in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States, along with a prime focus on research activities, the Governor also urged industry experts and the academia to give prior importance to ‘mandatory rural healthcare services’. Corporate companies need to have a key focus on plans towards adopting districts and rural areas under their Corporate Social Responsibility activities, he added. According to Pharmexcil, Indian pharma industry’s contribution to the globe stands at around $30 billion of which $15.5 billion is satisfying domestic needs and an equal part of it serving the global needs. Indian generics market, which is growing at a level of 12-14% is serving purposes of 220 countries and 40% of HIV medicines are being sourced from a single Indian company named ‘Cipla, while 80% of HIV medicines are being sourced from India.    

July 23, 2015 | 8:20 pm IST.