Union Minister for Coal & Mines G. Kishan Reddy urged the pharma industry to strengthen Hyderabad’s status as the ‘pharmacy hub of the world’ taking advantage of cutting-edge institutions, including the recently-established National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research (ICMR-NARFBR) and robust research ecosystem conducive to biomedical innovation.
The Central Government has recognised the importance of the pharma industry and is committed to supporting its quest for indigenisation with about ₹15,000 crore allotted to encourage further growth in the manufacturing sector as a whole, he said.
Participating at the 73rd Indian Pharmaceutical Congress valedictory function on Sunday, the Minister pointed out that the pharma sector contributes more than 5% of total exports or to the tune of ₹1.87 lakh crore. “From this, about ₹67,000 crore or 35% of exports are to the United States alone, indicating that Indian pharma products are best in the world,” he said.
The Centre’s pharmaceutical technology upgradation assistance scheme will further help in improving the standards to the international level, he said and assured funds for providing common infrastructure facilities at the proposed Bulk Drug Parks.
The country is emerging as the global pharmaceutical hub under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the theme this year reflected the significant contribution of the country to global well-being, he said and explained how the indigenously-made COVID vaccines (75 million doses) were exported to 94 nations within a short span of time, earning accolades.
Industrial growth
The PM Gati Shakti and other schemes to improve infrastructure will go a long way in promoting industrial growth. There has been an exponential rise in the number of airports from 74 to double, national highways from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1 lakh km, and dedicated freight corridors across 3,000 km while the power demand has increased from 136 GW to 233 GW since 2014, he said.
The Modi Government had also removed 1,562 obsolete laws, promoted UPI payments, Jan Dhan, and public payment infrastructure for Ease of Doing Business. The Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme too will go a long way in strengthening the industry.
More medical colleges
Mr. Reddy said the number of medical colleges have been increased from 388 to 706 and subsequently medical seats from 51,348 to 1.09 lakh. Similarly, medical PG seats too have been increased by 127%. He also welcomed the plan to establish a pharma university and promised to take it up with the government for necessary assistance.
About 12 crore people are benefited by the Ayushman Bharat scheme where medical insurance of up to ₹5 lakh is provided while the ‘Jan Aushadi’ stores provide medicines at subsidised rates. President of the congress B. Parthasarathi Reddy was present.
