‘Vizag Biomedical Hub’ hits a century

Visakhapatnam: There is a huge demand for certified and skilled biomedical engineers in India to serve the medical technology industry. When Indian manufacturers export their products like Computed Tomography (CT) scanner or capital equipment for installation, calibration and servicing, it is mandatory to have a certification which is valid internationally. However, there was no apex body to provide this certification to biomedical engineers.

In this backdrop, the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) being a pioneer in the MedTech sector created the Indian Biomedical Skill Consortium (IBSC) with an aim to strengthen biomedical engineering skill sector and to provide this much-needed solution. To do so, it also did the collaboration with National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) and Association of Indian Manufactures of Medical Devices (AiMeD).

Till date, 125 biomedical engineers have been certified. IBSC conducts skill assessment for biomedical professionals in more than 50 test centers pan India twice in a month. There are 15 modules in the IBSC assessment. The technology competency score gives weightage to experience, qualification and competency.

Role of biomedical engineers in MedTech sector

The Medical Devices industry in India is presently valued at approximately Rs 30,000 crores. Currently, India has about 750 – 800 medical device manufacturers with an average investment of Rs 10 to 15 crores and an average turnover of Rs 30 to 35 crores. Andhra Pradesh set up country’s one and only integrated medical device manufacturing park, AMTZ to bolster medical devices manufacturing which would neutralize import dependency of Rs 24,000 crores. The zone is set to have 240 manufactures and about 20,000 employment opportunities will be created in areas like production engineering product design, quality control, validation and other allied fields of medical device manufacturing.

IBSC has also signed an MoU with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), USA, wherein IBSC certified candidate will have equal opportunities to practice the biomedical profession globally. IBSC is also closely working with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and has proposed its skill training programs to be included in the National Skill Qualification Framework.