Interview/ G.S.K. Velu, chairman, Neuberg diagnostics and Trivitron Healthcare
Q/ What does the med tech industry look like in India, and particularly in Tamil Nadu?
Unfortunately, the industry is import-dependent—80 per cent is imported even today. But there is a lot of activity going on, both from the organised larger players and the startups. The pharma industry has become the factory of the world, but when it comes to medical devices, we missed the manufacturing wave of the early 1990s, which is when China started focusing on medical devices.
Q/ What is your role in the med tech platform?
We are now one of the largest manufacturers of medical equipment in India. We have factories in Chennai as well as locations in Visakhapatnam, Mumbai and Pune. We have factories in the US, Finland and Turkey, and we are starting more in China and Brazil.
Medical devices are becoming a localised business; post-Covid, the thought process is that you can’t be too dependent on imported critical items. The government is acting, but as health is a state subject, coordination between state and Central governments is still lacking to some extent, particularly where governments differ. The regulatory ecosystem is evolving, but often medical devices get merged with pharma, even though they are completely different business segments.
Q/ If you could recommend one policy change, what would it be?
We need to indigenise. Medical devices must become import-independent. We focused on pharma and health services; now it is time to focus on med tech. The next 10 years should belong to indigenously developed exports. This is the one missing link in the entire health care puzzle.
Q/ What advice would you give a new startup?
Don’t just find a cheaper way to solve an already solved problem. Identify a unique need. In India, accepting failure is still a challenge; in Silicon Valley, if you fail, you move to the next [project]. We must create an ecosystem where people can innovate and invent. Think global from day one. To achieve Viksit Bharat 2047, we need out-of-the-box thinking.
