Security fears mount amid rising Chinese medical device imports

The government is set to launch a probe into the rising use of Chinese medical devices in India's healthcare sector, amid concerns over data privacy and national security risks.

- MANU KAUSHIK

The issue was discussed at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by commerce minister Piyush Goyal early this month. Representatives from the domestic medical technology (MedTech) industry also participated in the meeting.

"The health data captured by the China-made medical devices, especially IT-enabled equipment, can potentially be used by Chinese firms for monitoring and espionage. Being a hostile nation, China can install malware or bugs in its devices that can be activated whenever it wants. There are also concerns of a national security threat because Chinese devices are increasingly used by defence forces, where there could be cases of data theft," said a source.