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Having played a key role in the supply of critical medical equipment across the country during the coronavirus pandemic, the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) is flourishing as a centre of a global eco-system for medical technology, its MD and founder CEO Jitendar Sharma has said. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when frantic searches for oxygen concentrators, ventilators and RT PCR kits were the order of the day, the AMTZ, India’s first medical technology park in Visakhapatnam, rose to the occasion. The AMTZ was manufacturing 250 ventilators, 500 oxygen concentrators and 10 lakh COVID RT PCR kits daily at the Nadupuru facilities and these equipment helped save lakhs of lives across the country, said Mr.
Sharma. Established on a 270-acre site in a record 342 days in 2018, the AMTZ has all the required manufacturing facilities and 18 high-end scientific facilities which support the production of medical technology and equipment. “For the first time in the country, all common facilities such as testing centres, labs and other facilities required to manufacture medical devices were being set up at one place.
Manufacturers can simply set up units and start production. We expect around 240 units would come up in the park in phases. The Centre and the State government would approximately spend ₹300 crore on common facilities,” Mr.
Sharma had told this correspondent in an interview in July 2017, when the AMTZ was still at the conceptual stage. Seven years later, 152 companies have already set up their production units in AMTZ, producing a diverse range of medical devices. Several units were set up this year and more are expected in 2025.
On July 11 this year, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, during his visit to the AMTZ, recalled the genesis of the project and the contribution of Mr. Sharma.
Mr. Sharma was Adviser to the Chandrababu Naidu’s government on Medical and Health in 2017. “I gave him (Mr.
Sharma) the idea and he brought it to fruition. A small initiative has created history. Today, I have satisfaction as a policy maker that AMTZ contributed to saving lives of lakhs of people across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr.
Naidu had said. “Mr. Sharma, as an Adviser to our government, came up with several initiatives.
I realised that he had a lot of talent and wanted him to create a medical equipment manufacturing hub in Vizag. Today, the AMTZ provides employment to 6,000 people,” he said. Pointing out that the AMTZ is the largest medical devices manufacturing hub in the world, Mr.
Sharma said the centre produced everything— from masks to MRI machines, CT scans, heart valves and pacemakers. “Cyclotrons, which produce radioisotopes for cancer care, is also being manufactured in AMTZ. Many ‘Made in India’ hospitals would be set up across the country and the medical equipment required for these hospitals would be produced here (AMTZ),” said Dr.
Sharma. “The PM Cares supplies also depend upon AMTZ. Many innovations from AMTZ such as mobile container hospitals, mobile RTCPR vehicles and oxygen plants have been sent to the remotest parts of the country,” he said.
Mr. Sharma said that the AMTZ is flourishing as a global eco-system for medical technology. “With the WHO Centre for Health Innovations, World Trade Centre, ICMR Centre, Ministry of Electronics Centre for Medical Electronics and Additive Materials, Ministry of Textiles Centre for Medical Textiles, Ministry of Science & Technology Centre for Biosciences, AMTZ is flourishing as a global centre for medical technology,” he said.
Many firsts The AMTZ has set up many key facilities for the first time in the State. The AMTZ has brought Andhra Pradesh’s first World Trade Centre, first Prime Minister Science and Technology Cluster, first electronic waste processing facility, first ‘Gamma irradiation centre, first Cancer Radioisotope Production Centre-Cyclotron to Visakhapatnam. India’s first silicon medical detector facility, silicon medical detector facility, Superconducting Magnet facility, heart valve production facility and the world’s first WHO Centre for Health Innovations were also set up in AMTZ, Dr.
Sharma added. Published - December 31, 2024 08:59 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit.
