Medical implants: ‘Make in India’ gets a leg-up

Several scientists from 20 premier research institutes based in the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland have come forward to partner with the consortium formed by the Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT), India’s first medical devices park AP MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Tata Steel and Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, in developing medical implants.

KIHT executive director and AMTZ CEO Jitendar Sharma told The Hindu on Saturday on the sidelines of the second meeting of the Biomedical Implants Materials Mission that indigenous manufacturing of medical implants was being encouraged in a big way at AMTZ. The implant market in India has been estimated at ₹6,500 crore. The first phase of AMTZ has recently been completed with 22 of 80 units sanctioned going on production near the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

Mr. Sharma said the cost of implants, being imported from China, Korea and Germany, could be brought down almost 80% if implants were made in India. Referring to dental and orthopaedic implants, he said they had become very expensive due to the country’s dependence on imports.

To extend support

He said AMTZ and KIHT were committed to bringing the bio-material community and the entire ecosystem for undertaking research on indigenous products by institutions of merit in the country. Now AMTZ, Tata Steel and other strategic partners of the mission would extend support to units which manufacture cost-effective implants.