VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Monday issued orders reconstituting the Board of Directors of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited (AMTZ), Visakhapatnam. The Board of Directors is headed by KS Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, while Kartikeya Misra is its CEO and MD.
The 12-member Board of Directors includes KS Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary (TPD), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Ritu Dhillon, Joint Secretary (Medical Devices) and Member Secretary, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, Department of Pharmaceuticals, GoI, Sudhansh Pant, Joint Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, GoI, Rajat Bhargava, Principal Secretary of Industries, Madireddy Pratap, Director General, AP Special Protection Force, Kartikeya Misra, CEO and MD, AMTZ, Nitin Bharadwaj Vice-President (HR & Administration), AMTZ, DS Nagesh, Scientist-G and Head of Department of Technology and Quality Management, SCTIMST, Prof MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University, Vivek Seigell, Principal Director, Chamber of Commerce, and Prof B Ravi, Institute Chair, IIT Bombay.
In March 2016, the previous government appointed Poonam Malakondaiah, Principal Secretary of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of AMTZ, and M Girija Shankar, Secretary of Industries, KV Satyanaryana, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare, B Sridhar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, APIIC, and Jitendar Sharma, Advisor (Health and MedTech) as directors of AMTZ.
Amending the orders, the State government released a GO in September 2019, replacing the first Board of Directors of AMTZ with KS Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary of Health, Medical and Family Welfare as its Chairman and Rajat Bhargava, Principal Secretary of Industries, Kartikeya Misra, Director of Health and Family Welfare, M Pratap, Director General, Special Protection Force, Guntur, and Jitendar Sharma, Advisor (Health & MedTech) as Directors.
The government allocated a mere Rs 30 crore for AMTZ in the State budget for 2019-20 as against Rs 270 crore earmarked in the budget for 2018-19.