High Time For Indian Pharma To Transform Into Value: Sajjan Singh Yadav

India is presently branded as the pharmacy of the world, known for its volumes in vaccines and generics, though the country now finds itself ripe to move onto the next chapter of being the leader in both volume as well as value. The Union Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Sajjan Singh Yadav in a conversation with BW Healthcare world said that it's high time for India to transform into high value pharmaceuticals as the opportunities are tremendous both in vaccines as well other drugs.

The Union Secretary has recently also penned a book on India’s Vaccine Growth Story: From Cowpox To Vaccine Maitri, which explores how different vaccines have evolved and what the world used to do before the vaccines were discovered. How one got immunity from infectious diseases in that ancient era.

Speaking specifically around vaccines, Yadav added that there are high value opportunities enfolding such as the therapeutic vaccines against non communicable diseases like for cancer, heart strokes and allergies. He said there are other vaccines which produce monoclonal antibodies for new infections and there is also more movement towards universal or broad spectrum vaccines. “So, the field is vastly open for Indian players to take a plant and expand our production not only in India, but to other countries and expand both in terms of value as well as volumes,” he said.

On being asked if the public healthcare spend is optimal, Yadav replied that the spend is certainly not enough as a percentage of the GDP both in the government sector as well as in the private sector. He said that “It needs to work up from the state government point of view and from the union government as well as from the private expenditure. We have to spend more and that is reflected in the quality of healthcare and public health efforts which are needed.”

Speaking on the outlook of the healthcare sector in coming years, Yadav said the government’s two pronged strategy through the Ayushman Bharat will improve the public health infrastructure and will boost the private healthcare system through the health insurance scheme of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY). “The target is to cover 50 crore vulnerable people who cannot afford healthcare under PMJAY for getting them secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities. So we have reached around only 20 crore people as of now but in the next three to four years I am sure that we will reach the target of 50 crore or even more people.”

On being asked about the missing middle, Yadav said that we need to find those kinds of financial resources and collaborative funding and technology which will aid us in tapping the missing middle into the fold of a health insurance cover.