Karachi: Pakistan’s leading healthcare experts, biomedical engineers, regulators and industry leaders on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious “Vision 2030” initiative aimed at manufacturing at least 30 percent of the country’s medical devices locally by the year 2030, reducing dependence on imports and strengthening national healthcare security.
The announcement came during the Pakistan Medical Devices Manufacturing Summit titled “Vision 2030”, organized by Saman-e-Shifa Foundation in collaboration with Salim Habib University and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) at Salim Habib University Karachi.
During the event, Saman-e-Shifa Foundation donated locally manufactured ICU ventilators, multipara patient monitors and syringe pumps to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). The equipment was formally handed over to NICVD Executive Director Prof Tahir Saghir as a demonstration of Pakistan’s growing capacity to manufacture quality medical technologies locally.
A historic memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Saman-e-Shifa Foundation and the Institute of Pakistan Medical Device Industry (IPMDI), while another agreement was signed between Salim Habib University and IPMDI to promote indigenous manufacturing, research collaboration and innovation in Pakistan’s medical device sector.
Speaking at the summit, renowned orthopaedic surgeon and Chairman of Saman-e-Shifa Foundation Prof Dr Syed Shahid Noor said Pakistan could no longer afford to remain dependent on imported medical technologies, particularly after recent global crises and supply chain disruptions exposed vulnerabilities in the healthcare system.
“Self reliance in healthcare is no longer a choice, it is a necessity for national survival and health security,” he said, adding that Pakistan spends billions of rupees annually on importing medical devices that could be manufactured locally with the right investment, policy support and research ecosystem.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had demonstrated how countries dependent on imported medical supplies faced severe shortages of ventilators, syringes and other lifesaving equipment when global supply chains collapsed.
The summit brought together policymakers, healthcare professionals, medical device manufacturers, academics, researchers and entrepreneurs to discuss the future of Pakistan’s medical device ecosystem, local manufacturing capabilities, biomedical engineering, innovation and regulatory reforms.
In a major development, participants at the summit resolved to establish a Rs1 billion research and development fund to support indigenous medical device manufacturing, innovation and technology development in Pakistan.
Participants also inaugurated the Centre of Medical Device Innovation and Research and launched what organizers described as Pakistan’s first dedicated medical device manufacturing platform.
A panel discussion on “Quality Medical Device Manufacturing in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities” was moderated by Syed Arif Shah, CEO of Saman-e-Shifa Foundation.
Panelists included Syed Omar Ahmed, Chairman Healthcare Devices Association of Pakistan (HDAP), Jamshed Ahmed, CEO PharmEvo, Abbas Ali of Hakimi MedTech, Dr Fouzia Sadiq of Medical Alsons Technologies, Prof Dr Farhan Essa Abdullah Abedin of Dr Essa Laboratory and Prof Dr Syed Irfan Hyder, Vice Chancellor of Salim Habib University.
Experts stressed the need for stronger industry academia partnerships, investment in biomedical engineering and research, skilled workforce development and implementation of international quality standards in Pakistan’s healthcare manufacturing sector.
They maintained that local manufacturing of medical devices would improve affordability and accessibility of healthcare technologies, reduce import dependence and help Pakistan emerge as a regional hub for quality medical device manufacturing in the coming years.
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