Role Of Medical Devices

Medical devices hold a key role in offering better screening, diagnosis and treatment of diseases

- Nikhilesh Tiwari

Successful healthcare delivery depends both on the availability of medical personnel and health technologies. Medical devices are an important cog in the healthcare delivery system. They equip health service providers with the necessary tools to perform their job of providing quality healthcare effectively.

The Indian healthcare industry has grown significantly over the last decade. However, our health ecosystem is plagued by a lack of availability and affordability of quality healthcare services. In fact, India lags behind the BRIC nations and a number of other developing countries in this regard. While technological advancements have expanded to encompass almost every stage of the healthcare continuum, accessibility and democratic availability remain a hurdle.

India faces a dual healthcare challenge as the rising burden of lifestyle diseases is added to the burden of communicable diseases such as Tb. Non-communicable diseases are currently responsible for 61% of deaths in the country, a number that is only set to go up in the coming years. While both the Government and private participants have undertaken several measures to address the lack of quality healthcare services, these efforts have been executed in discrete silos.

Medical device manufacturers in a continuum of care

In this scenario, medical devices hold a key role in offering better screening, diagnosis and treatment of diseases along with restoration and monitoring of health indicators to boost prevention. While medical device manufacturers have mostly focused on improving the quality of care and life expectancy, we also need to increase the affordability of devices, so that there is a large scale impact.