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: Indian medical device makers seem to be making concerted attempts to get the right pulse of the $200 billion global medical device market. While they are inconsequential in size compared to multinationals like General Electric, Philips or Siemens, few technologies developed by Indian device makers are showing new signs of hope.

Be it medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems or performance improvement, innovations by Indian device makers are looking at new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease. Success still eludes the home-grown medical devices players as market acceptability continues to elude their devices.

Business opportunities abound not only in global market, but a fast growing Indian medical devices market, which currently stands at $3 billion and is expected to grow at a rate of 12 to 16% for the next five years—considered a very attractive opportunity by leading international companies.

Given that electronics is hooked into virtually every aspect of healthcare sector—therapy, surgery, pharmacology, hospitalisation, medical test analysis, implants, and more—there are numerous examples of interesting and innovative breakthroughs in the realm of medical devices.

Here’s a quick snapshot. A little-known Surat-based medical devices company, Sahajanand Medical Technologies, has developed biodegradable polymer stents for angioplasty and priced it economically at Rs 70,000, forcing international medical devices majors to reduce prices of similar offerings from Rs 2-2.5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh.

Another player is Hyderabad-based Relisys Medical Devices with its offerings of drug eluting stents, angioplasty catheters, cardiac surgery disposables and critical care equipment. The company’s chairman, Krishna Reddy says that the industry size for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in medical devices is about euro 1 billion, but there are only few Indian players who are eyeing this opportunity.

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed an artificial heart gadget, successfully tested it on animals and are seeking the go-ahead from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for human clinical trials. The miniaturised device comprises a biventricular multi-actuated pumping system and aortic peristaltic pump driven by electric power and controlled by a controller. Mechanical valves present at the inflow and outflow conduits control the flow of blood through the pump and the entire pump system provides blood flow very similar to natural cardiac pumping.