Promotion of Medical Devices Parks Scheme
Also called: Medical Device Parks Scheme · Topic: Industrial Policy, Public Sector, MSMEs and Disinvestment · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Promotion of Medical Devices Parks Scheme is a government scheme that helps build medical device parks. A medical device park is a planned area where many device makers set up factories close together. The scheme pays for common infrastructure, meaning facilities that all firms in the park share, such as testing labs, power, water and waste treatment. A single firm, especially a small one, would find these too costly to build alone. The scheme matters because a new device cannot be sold until it is tested and certified. When testing is shared and close to the factory, firms save time and money. The scheme works alongside output-linked incentives such as the PLI scheme for medical devices, which pays firms only after they actually produce.
Example
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers reported in February 2024 that ₹120 crore had been set aside for medical device parks in 2022–23. Only ₹89 lakh of it had been spent. This slow progress on shared facilities is one reason domestic manufacturing of high-end devices grew slowly.
Don't confuse with
- Production-linked incentive (PLI) for medical devices: PLI pays a firm a share of the extra sales it makes after it starts producing. The parks scheme funds shared facilities before production begins and does not pay any single firm for its output.