India's increasing dependence on China for medical equipment

Mumbai: While India is trying to reduce imports of Chinese goods on one hand, there are still some equipments for which India has to rely on China. According to the information received, there has been an increase of 25 to 152 percent in the import of 30 medical devices from China in the first nine months of the last financial year, according to the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry.

However, overall exports of medical equipment grew by 17 percent while imports fell by 8 percent.

Imports of medical equipment from China increased by 48 percent to Rs 12,979 crore in FY 2022. India mainly imports equipment like consumables, testing kits etc. from China.

In the first nine months of last financial year, the total export figure for medical equipment was Rs 20,511 crore, which was Rs 17,557 crore in the period of financial year 2022.

The government announced the National Medical Device Policy 2023 on Wednesday to increase the production of medical equipment in the country. The policy is important for India's inclusion among the top five suppliers of medical equipment in the world, government sources said.