Karachi: Questioning the rationale of imposing 18 percent tax on the import of medical devices, equipment and life-saving machines, Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal on Saturday said the government would support Pakistani manufacturers producing quality medical equipment to reduce import dependence and promote exports.
Speaking at the conference, “Boosting Medical Device Development in Pakistan”, held during the concluding day of the 23rd Health Asia International Exhibition and Conferences at Karachi Expo Centre, he said the country needed to make local manufacturing a central part of its health and industrial policy.
The conference was organised by the Saman-e-Shifa Foundation under the theme, “From Import Dependency to Local Innovation”, and was attended by representatives of the health ministry, DRAP, hospitals, manufacturers, academics and health professionals.
Mustafa Kamal said Pakistan could not continue spending valuable foreign exchange on products that local engineers and manufacturers had the capacity to produce, provided they met required standards of quality, safety and performance.
He said the tax burden on imported life-saving equipment required rational consideration, particularly when the government was seeking to make medical technologies accessible and encourage local industrial investment.
“If Pakistani manufacturers produce quality medical equipment, it can initially save valuable foreign exchange and, in the long run, increase exports and earn foreign exchange for the country,” the minister said.
He maintained that local production should not be encouraged at the cost of patient safety, saying medical devices, particularly equipment used in critical-care units, operation theatres and diagnostic laboratories, must comply with recognised quality standards and regulatory requirements.
The health minister said the Ministry of National Health Services and DRAP were introducing reforms to facilitate business, speed up regulation and make medical-device registration more transparent and fully digital, with a target of completing the process within 21 days.
Referring to the Pakistan-China pharmaceutical and healthcare B2B conference, he said agreements worth $663 million and MoUs of around $1.2 billion had been signed, and the government wanted this investment to bring technology transfer, local manufacturing, jobs and exports rather than simply increase imports.
Prof Dr Syed Shahid Noor, chairman of the Saman-e-Shifa Foundation, said Pakistan imported medical devices worth close to $3 billion every year while exports from the sector remained negligible.
He said the country had already shown that it could produce a range of quality medical devices, including ventilators and other electromedical equipment approved by DRAP, but local manufacturers had not received a consistent policy framework or assured market access.
“Pakistan does not have a technology problem, it has a policy gap,” Dr Noor said, adding that local industry needed a national policy that supported quality certification, investment, research, regulatory facilitation and public-sector procurement.
He said manufacturers investing billions of rupees in plants, equipment and technical capacity could not recover their investment if government hospitals continued to rely almost entirely on imported equipment despite the availability of DRAP-approved local alternatives.
The Foundation and industry representatives recommended a National Medical Device Policy, including a 30 to 50 percent minimum procurement quota for DRAP-approved Made-in-Pakistan devices in public-sector and military hospitals.
They also sought rationalisation of duties and taxes on locally manufactured devices, raw materials, components and manufacturing machinery, a fast-track DRAP approval window for indigenous products, and a dedicated fund to support small and medium enterprises, research, scale-up and international certification.
Dr Abdul Bari Khan, founder and chief executive of the Indus Hospital and Health Network, said local manufacturing could help hospitals control costs and improve availability of equipment, especially institutions providing free healthcare.
However, he stressed that affordability could not be achieved by compromising on quality. “The device in an intensive care unit has to perform every time,” he said, adding that hospitals would support locally manufactured products meeting international safety and performance standards.
An MoU was signed between the Saman-e-Shifa Foundation and the Pakistan Electromedical Equipment Manufacturers and Distributors Association to promote Made-in-Pakistan electromedical equipment, technology transfer and collaboration among manufacturers, hospitals, regulators and academic institutions.
Health Asia organiser Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed said the exhibition had become an important platform for connecting Pakistani healthcare businesses with international companies, technologies and investors.
The three-day exhibition featured more than 600 booths across five halls and drew health professionals, manufacturers, hospital managers, academics and delegates from Pakistan and abroad.
Its conferences and technical sessions focused on medical-device development, digital health, patient safety, public health, medical tourism, pharmaceutical marketing and new diagnostic and treatment technologies. An experience zone at the medical-device conference showcased locally developed equipment and innovations.
The event also included recognition of contributors to healthcare, medical education, industry and innovation, while experts used panel discussions and technical sessions to call for stronger links between regulators, hospitals, academia and manufacturers.