Though “India is on the threshold of new challenges with the new intellectual property regime” he emphasized the need for a change in the international and national attitude and mindset towards Indian healthcare as it continues to have the requisite knowledge and skills as well as the market. He also suggested a novel e-healthcard system to document the complete medical history of all citizens down to the village level.
Appreciating the various sessions of the Conclave, he invited CII to partner the Ministry in organizing similar conclaves at the rural and regional level and help evolve a roadmap for implementation in the PPP mode through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).While unveiling the Special Issue of the CII Pharma Communiqué, he appreciated CII’s efforts of bringing together this very informative publication.
He took a wide range of questions including overlapping and cooperation between different ministries and departments relevant to the health sector and quality regulations.
Dr V M Katoch, Secretary, Department of Health Research & Director General, Indian Council of Medial Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India while speaking about India’s wealth of knowledge, underlined the need for removing the “bottlenecks” to convert this knowledge into products with further industry and academic co-operation. He also stressed the need for further inter- ministerial co-operation among the various government departments.
Recounting the inherent advantages of the Indian Pharma Industry like an accountable judicial system, English as the language of communication and a proper regulatory regime besides the cost advantage, Dr Anand Burman, Chairman, CII National Committee on Biotech and Chairman, Dabur India also spoke of the constrains of infrastructure, poor roads, acute power shortages and inadequate number of trained medical staff as constraining factors in the future development of the Indian Pharmaceutical industry.
Citing the strategic importance of India in the pharmaceutical sector, Mr Bruce Ross, Country Director, India, US Food and Drug Administration reiterated the US government’s commitment to continue its trusting relationship with regulatory counterparts in other countries, such as India. Mr Ross said that India has the largest number of FDA approved drug manufacturers outside the U.S with $1.38 billion of exports to the US market in 2007 –08 growing at 39%.
Concluding the Inaugural Session, Dr Y S Rajan, Principal Advisor, CII spoke of the new opportunities that existed in the wide bio-diversity in India.
The 2 day Conclave was attended by 350 delegates. The Conclave featured 6 Sessions, 3 panel Discussion and was addressed by 62 eminent speakers. |
