In India, healthcare development has never been a top priority of the successive governments in power. Until recently, the government spending on healthcare remains at around 1 per cent of the country’s GDP. Together with, the high custom duties levied on medical devices have created a cascading effect on the pricing of medical devices which in turn hindering the growth of medical devices industry.
As the government is going to present its interim budget on February 1, the industry players will keep their fingers crossed for a ‘change’ in government spending on healthcare. This will not only boost investment in the medical devices industry, but will make healthcare sector truly affordable. Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) seeks reduction of custom duties to 2.5 per cent including all surcharges. In addition, the industry body has raised concerns about the probable ‘smuggling of low-bulk-high-value devices’ since the custom duty regime on most medical devices in neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan is lower than in India. This will not only be loss of revenue for the government but also the patient will be beset with products which are not backed by adequate legal and service guarantees, MTaI said.
Further, according to a survey conducted by the Association for Democratic Reforms in 2017, improving healthcare in India is by far the second most important issue among the top priorities of Indian voters. Therefore, it will be surprising if healthcare delivery is not considered as a top election agenda issue during 2019 general election.
Preventive maintenance is an important part of dental practice. All dental equipment require upkeep to be available whenever needed. Proper and regular maintenance helps dental equipment to perform smoothly and reliably and minimises the risk for poor functioning or damage. This time we discuss on why it is important to maintain dental equipment. Our report also highlights the maintenance checklist and procedure.
Prosthetic technology has emerged as a revolutionary way to help improve the lives of people with physical disabilities. Prosthetic is all about creating limbs for the limbless. Here we present you a summary of the game-changing breakthroughs in the field of prosthetic.
I hope you will enjoy reading this issue as always. Please send your comments at pravita@charypublications.in
Pravita Iyer
Publisher
