Kerala Best Suited for Medical Devices Industry: Minister P Rajeeve

KOCHI:
Kerala has a highly conducive ecosystem for medical devices industry, having a world-class healthcare system in place and patients coming from Arabian, African and East European countries for treatment, Minister of Industries, Coir and Law P Rajeeve said today.

“Kerala meets all the parameters needed for the medical devices industry to thrive. There is great investment opportunity in this sector”, the Minister told representatives of the medical devices and biotechnology sector during an interaction organized by the Kerala Lifesciences Industries Parks Kerala (KLIP) under the aegis of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) in the city.

“The worldwide recognition of its healthcare sector is a major asset of Kerala. The state also has clean water and highly skilled human resource that are critical for the medical devices industry to grow”, the Minister said.

Kerala Life Sciences Park in Thiruvananthapuram and the upcoming Kerala Rubber Park in Velloor in Kottayam district will provide great support to the medical device industry. The process of leasing out space in the rubber park will start soon, he said.

Today’s interaction came along a series of conclaves the government has planned as a build-up to the Global Investors Meet to be held early next year. As many as 22 priority areas have been identified in the New Industrial Policy of the government, which will be showcased at the investors meet.

“We have introduced facilities for enhancing Ease of Doing Business such as grievance redressal system, centralized scrutiny system and insurance for the industrial sector,” the Minister pointed out, adding that big polluting companies were not viable in Kerala.

Making a presentation on the industrial policy of the state, Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce) A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish said the government’s priority was to increase the market value of products, their marketability and overall development of industry.

“We have already sanctioned 29 private industrial parks,” he revealed, adding that the Department of Industries and Commerce was according special consideration to the manufacturing of medical devices.

Other speakers at the event were KSIDC Chairman Paul Antony, Managing Director S. Harikishore, Executive Director Hari Krishnan R., Kerala Life Sciences Industries Park (KLIP) CEO Dr Praveen K.S., Senior Manager Sunitha Chandran and Agappe Diagnostics MD Thomas John.

Recently, the KSIDC had hosted a roadshow in Chennai for investors. More such roadshows will be held in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The finale of the series will be the Global Investors Meet in Kochi in February next year.