VISAKHAPATNAM: The Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited, a special purpose vehicle floated to set up India’s first medical devices manufacturing park in Visakhapatnam, is buoyed by the response to investment in the proposed facility.
“We are getting bookings continuously ever since we opened it to the investors on October 2, 2016,” a senior official of the SPV told The Hindu on Thursday. The park, which is being made a reality by its CEO Jitendra Sharma, is the brainchild of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who had laid the stone for the ambitious project a few months ago.
The State Government is developing the park in 270 acres at Nadupuru village in Pedagantyada mandal. It is in close proximity to Ukkunagaram township of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Huge market
The response at the investors’ meet held by the zone in Dusseldorf in Germany recently had evoked an overwhelming response, mainly due to the huge size of the market in India. The zone is planning to hold a series of investors’ meets both in India and abroad.
Booking for units has been sought at a concessional rate for allotment of land in quarter, half and one acre. The zone will have all facilities under one roof, including electromagnetic interference, low vacuum, toxicity, radiation, and rapid photo-typing testing laboratories.
In a shot in the arm, the zone recently signed MoU with the Quality Council of India for adhering to global benchmarking in the manufacture of medical devices.
The State Government is envisaging an investment by 200-300 units in the park with an estimated investment of ₹30,000 crore to create job opportunities for at least 25,000 people.
As part of the ‘Make in India’ programme, the importance given to encourage medical devices within the country in the general budget for 2017-18 would go a long way in reducing the cost of healthcare,” said V. Muralikrishna, managing director of Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.
Most of the devices required for diagnostics are now sourced either from Europe, America, or China.
“Hence, making medical devices will not only help save foreign exchange but also create job opportunities,” he said, and sought preference to local entrepreneurs who had already invested in healthcare for collaborating with foreign investors.
