The apathy of policy makers, failure to develop local brands and cumbersome trade policies are hampering surgical sector from operating at full potential and thereby contribute to the country's economy, said the industry stakeholders. The current world market of surgical products is estimated at $17-18 billion and is growing gradually, keeping in view the constant developments and innovations in this sector. However, despite the fact that over 10,000 different medical instruments, covering all basic and surgical segments are being manufactured in Pakistan, surgical goods exports was recorded at $358 million in 2015-16 against $341 million in 2014-15.
The country's surgical goods and medial instruments exports can cross the mark of $1 billion in next two years, if government facilitates the sector with pro-industry policies. This was stated by Media Advisor and former Chairman Surgical Instruments Manufacturing Association (SIMA) Jehangir Bajwa while talking to Business Recorder.
Pakistani surgical instruments are considered to be the most economical in the world coupled with guarantee of finest quality. Only in Sialkot over ten thousand different medical instruments covering all the sections of surgery & basics, are being manufactured. This type of assortment of instruments is not available any where else in the world. However, Bajwa said that the sector is facing several problems including complex trade policies, adoption of new technology and failure to develop local brands.
Bajwa said that Islamic countries are big market but due to cumbersome health and registration policies, Pakistan cannot export surgical instruments directly there. Further about 95 percent of the surgical industry operates in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs); however they lack the financial support to develop their brands in international market, said Bajwa, adding that US and Germany are the big partners who import surgical goods from Pakistan and export the same with their brand names to other countries of the world. "Under no law can we restrict or ban these countries from exporting our products," Bajwa maintained.
He said that the business has become so lucrative and beneficial that some mediators or middlemen have even shut their own manufacturing units as they get the best products from Pakistan. The government needs to intervene and come up with pro-industry policy to raise surgical goods exports and capture major market share. He said that surgical sector contributed Rs 500 million to the Export Development Fund (EDF) during the last ten years, however not a single penny was used by the government for the development of this sector. Industry stakeholders submitted many proposals to the government for the development of this sector, but due to delays in terms of policy formulation no action has so far been taken.
Bajwa said that there is no training institute to produce skilled labour to meet the modern world requirements taking place subsequent to the introduction of high technology. Further there is need for a common facility centre equipped with high technology to facilitate and reduce the cost of production of the sector especially the SMEs who can not afford such high cost technology.
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