Kerala to have one of the first medical device parks

New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): Kerala will soon house one of the first medical device parks in the country, focusing on the high-risk medical device sector to provide a full range of services for the medical devices industry like Research and Development (R and D) support, testing, and evaluation.
According to an official release of the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation stone for Medical Devices Park on Thursday.
MedSpark, the medical devices park envisaged as a joint initiative of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GOI), and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), the industrial and investment promotion agency of the Government of Kerala is going to be established in the Life Science Park, Thonnakkal, Thiruvananthapuram.
"This medical device park will stand out with its emphasis on the high-risk medical device sector involving medical implants and extracorporeal devices, in which SCTIMST scores with its knowledge. The services available in the park can be utilized by the medical device industries located within the MedSpark as well from other parts of India. This will benefit small and medium-sized medical devices industries, which dominate the medical devices sector," the release said.
MedSpark can leverage the existing advantage of the Kerala State in the high-risk medical device manufacture and develop it into the most sought after destination for setting up medical device industry in India, it said.
According to the release, Kerala has a number of medical device companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 750 crores, most of them operating with technologies transferred from SCTIMST.
It is expected that the project would provide direct employment to 1200 people. Besides, employment generation up to 4000-5000 jobs through the supporting industries like OEM suppliers, service providers, and marketing/post-marketing support activities, the release said. (ANI)