Sustainability Of Medtech In The World Of Shrinking Margins

The Panel was moderated by Dr. Ashwani Aggarwal, Principal Consultant, PwC (Chair) who initiated the discussion by stating that Medtech companies need to strike a balance between their profiteering and affordability of the consumers. He also mentioned that the scenario is now changing as earlier we used to import high-end machines and export budget machines but now it is the time when our reliance on foreign counterpart is getting lesser. 

Probir Das, Regional Representative – India & Asia Pacific, Terumo Corporation & Chairman, Terumo Asia Holding & Managing Director, Terumo India said that it is a strongly regulated market and it is not very easy to get out of this business because once someone venture into this business, they can lose huge amount of investment, if not planned properly. 

Rajiv Kapahi, Sr. Director: India Hub – Finance, Operations & Distribution, Boston Scientific India said that commercial models must be worked on priority to improve the standards of the industry. He said that we don’t have to think about price reduction at present, but we have to think about the shortage of doctors, medical infrastructure and other basic necessities. He opined that if we think about cost efficiency now, we may have to compromise on the quality of research and innovation. 

Harash Malhotra, VP - Diagnostic Imaging, Sales, Siemens Healthineers said that solution must be based on Fair Trade Margins. Dr. Harsh Mahajan, Founder & Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging said that we require both high-end technologies as well as cost efficiency and recently, Research and Development agencies are taking care of it.

Anjan Bose, Secretary-General, NATHEALTH pointed out that Medtech companies are getting pressures from the market to develop a sustainable healthcare ecosystem. He added that any good company has to look at the deliverables while keeping in mind the factor of affordability. 

Dr. Harish Pillai, CEO, Aster India, however, pointed out that India has a collective brainpower and we need to be mission-centric in our approach in the healthcare sector also. He emphasised that we need to re-engineer our financial models. He said that we must fight the perceptions that people have in their minds.