HYDERABAD: With the commissioning of SMT’s largest stent manufacturing unit in Sultanpur, the Medical Devices Park in Telangana has now garnered over Rs 980 crore in investments, with 22 domestic medical devices and supplies companies setting up their manufacturing unit in the park.
The companies are estimated to provide over 4,000 job opportunities. Additionally, a collaboration with the Medical Services Park has been invited by China’s top medical equipment and devices zones. Speaking to Express, Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, ITEC and Industries, said, “Hyderabad has always been known for its prowess over the life sciences.”
He added, “However, we as a State have always paid more attention to just pharmaceuticals without any experience or stronghold in medical devices. Therefore, the Medical Devices Park was established to encourage domestic companies to manufacture high-end medical devices.”
Apart from SMT, some of the other key stakeholders of the park are Promea Therapeutics Pvt Ltd, Arka Medical Devices and Virchow Biotech Pvt Ltd.
He further added, “There were multiple barriers to kick start the Medical Device Park. The primary one being, India is not known for its medical technology as compared to its thriving talent pool. High-end hospitals tend to use German or Korean manufactured devices. Therefore, breaking that stereotype was of utmost necessity, followed by an angel investor who would give a sense of confidence to other smaller companies to invest.” Currently, over 100 acres of the 250 acres of the Medical Devices Park has been allotted to the 22 companies, and the State government is expecting lump sum investment by international companies as well.
The Medical Devices Park has also signed two MoUs over the years with China Medical City in Taizhou and Gangwan Tech Park in South Korea for the purpose of knowledge sharing.
Shakthi Nagappan, Director of Life Sciences, said, “India is still at a very nascent stage when it comes to medical devices and med-tech. Therefore, a holistic environment to support and build prototypes for medical devices and electronics was required. And thus, a med-tech incubator, Ojas MedTech Incubator was formed.” SMT’s CEO, Ganesh Sabat, during the commissioning of the stent manufacturing unit said, “It was the transparent, hassle-free procedure, and lack of red tape that led us to start our unit in Hyderabad.”
According to sources, SMT, the Surat-based company did not have any plans to move their second manufacturing unit out of Gujarat.