New Delhi/Visakhapatnam: Indian Medical Device Industry is in mourning as it thinks that sudden removal of a ‘Med Tech Man’ is a death knell to AMTZ (Andhra Med Tech Zone), a thriving trophy of Make in India in the country.
AIMED (Association of Indian Medical Device Industry) feels that the sun that rose on ‘Make in India’ in Andhra Pradesh has all of sudden set to the chagrin of entire Indian Medical Device Industry. ‘Make in India’ enthusiasts, all and sundry, are crestfallen. The reason: the man Jitender Sharma, MD, AMTZ, who left cushy job at WHO in Geneva to contribute to India stands ‘unmade’ in Andhra Pradesh.
Ignoring Dr Sharma’s superb credentials at AMTZ, just like elsewhere, namely, WHO and Union Health Ministry, the new AP government has removed him from where his heart was. The Medtech Man, the tag he earned due to his excellent performance at AMTZ, speaks a volume about how precious he is for Make in India, a flagship slogan of PM Modi’s government. SOS (save our souls) has been sent to PM Narendra Modi to intervene and use his good offices to reverse the damage.
Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator of AIMED, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Science and Technology Minister Harshvardhan to take up the matter with AP govt and see to it that the talent and sincere intent of an excellent professional Jitender Sharma is not frittered away at the altar of murky politics. Why so much hollering at his removal? A single fact would suffice to answer- while at WHO, Dr Sharma was instrumental in bringing out the first report on local production of Medical devices. Dr Sharma is just the man for ‘Make in India’.
Talking to Medicare News, apolitical Rajiv Nath, a diehard ‘Make in India’ buff, says, ‘Officers getting transferred with change in political powers is normal. IAS officers get shuffled but to do it to excellent officers who leave cushy job in WHO Geneva to help their country and become jobless is not in the fitness of things. Professionals like Dr Sharma need to be protected or our country will not be able to attract technocrats.’
In a release, AIMED, has urged the government to make use of the services Of Dr Sharma, saying he is very talented and has played a key role in putting Andhra Pradesh on the global map as a hub for manufacturing medical devices. The sudden removal of Dr Sharma has been termed as a major setback for the Indian medical device industry. Sharma founded AMTZ from concept to completion and progress.
The release further said, ‘ ‘Dr. Sharma had been instrumental in establishing AMTZ and Kalam Institute of Healthcare Technology which today has made the whole world look upon Andhra Pradesh as an investment destination for the manufacture of medical devices.’
AIMED in release has asserted that Make in Andhra, and Make in India of medical devices is at stake without Sharma. His team has accomplished the impossible jaw-dropping feat of creating a Med Tech Park on barren land in less than a year. So much so that even the Global Medical Community along with WHO congregated to Vizag to join forces with Dr. Sharma and his team.’
AIMED is so enamoured of Dr Sharma that it has likened him to Metro Man Sridharan.
