Union Budget 2023: Why multidisciplinary courses on medical devices will not work if we continue to encourage Chinese imports, disincentivise local players

This, however, will not reduce the 80 to 85 per cent medical device import dependence of India immediately, said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator at the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED). He said that the industry was expecting a graded increase in the custom duty on imported products from the current 0 to 7.5 per cent to 10 to 15 per cent and a reduction in the GST from 18 per cent to 12 per cent as medical devices are not luxury goods.

“Though our honourable Prime Minister urges India to become aatmanirbhar in medical devices, yet the medical devices imports continued to grow at an alarming level by 41 per cent in FY22. Sadly, the government didn’t even implement the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee on health. It is very painful to see the plight of domestic industry players shutting shop as the local industry cannot compete with cheaper Chinese imports,” said Nath.

The Finance Minister also announced 157 new nursing colleges, which will be set up in “co-location” with the existing medical colleges established since 2014. The 157 new medical colleges were established in three phases covering 39 aspirational districts under a Centrally-sponsored scheme of the government along with existing district or referral hospitals.

“Setting up 157 nursing colleges is a welcome step as there is a huge shortage of qualified nurses in our country, much more than doctors,” said Ravi Wankhedker, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Appreciating the move, Dr Ajay Swaroop, chairman of the board of governors of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, “Some focus on funding and incentive for doing telemedicine and research in remote areas would have been a welcome step.”