CII-IMT Hyderabad Conclave

Hyderabad, 18 November 2019: Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Hyderabad in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), organised Health and Pharma Conclave on 18th November 2019 at ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad. The conclave viewed the pharma and healthcare sectors in India from varied perspectives.

The conclave commenced with the welcome address being delivered by Mr D Raju, Chairman, CII, Telangana and CEO & MD, Kirby Building Systems & Structures India Pvt Ltd. This was followed by inaugural address by Mr Eatala Rajender, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Medical & Family Welfare, Government of Telangana. Mr Eatala Rajender reiterated the importance of providing affordable healthcare to the common man and explained the various steps which the state government was taking in that direction. He talked at length about how Hyderabad, as a pharma-hub, has contributed to 30% of the world's vaccines supply and 35% of the pharma production in India was from Telangana. He released a report on heath and pharma sector titled – “Renaissance – The beginning of a new era in Healthcare and Pharma”. This report was authored by Professors of IMT –Hyderabad – Prof. D.P. Ghosh, Prof. Shabnam Priyadarshini and Prof. Surajit Ghosh Dastidar.

This was followed with opening remarks by Prof. M. Venkateshwarlu, Director, IMT, Hyderabad. He emphasized on how we can learn more about healthcare from businesses. He also spoke about the scope of the healthcare sector in India and its tremendous business potential. After this there was a special address by Mr. E.V. Narsimha Reddy, Vice Chairman and Managaing Director, TSIIC, Government of Telangana. He elaborated on the efforts being put across the Telangana state for further development of healthcare and pharma sectors. Then the keynote address was delivered by Mr GV Prasad, Chairman, CII National Committee on Pharmaceuticals & Co-Chairman & MD, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. He insisted on the need for investment in infrastructure to aid the development and affordability of primary healthcare. The inaugural session ended with closing remarks and vote of thanks by Prof. K Sriharsha Reddy, Dean (Academics), IMT, Hyderabad.

The conclave consisted of sessions on “Designing Transformation” and “The future of Healthcare Ecosystem” followed by a panel discussion on “Accessibility vis-a-vis Sustainability” wherein, several prominent personalities from the healthcare industry shared their valuable insights.

The first session on ‘Designing Transformation: Re-orienting Strategies for Indian Pharmaceutical Companies to succeed in the current Global Market Dynamics’ was moderated by Ms Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, Chairman & CEO, IKP Knowledge Park, with the panellists being - Mr Ravi Kumar V Vantaram, Executive Director & CFO, Laurus Labs Limited, Dr Pavan Bhat, Executive VP, Technical Operation, Natco Pharma and Mr Ganesh K, Chief Financial Officer, Hetero Labs Limited. The discussion concluded that the pharmaceutical industry was highly regulated and needed to be more open to cater to the requirements of the people from developing nations world over.

‘The Future of Healthcare Ecosystem: Reimagining Healthcare Landscape with Emerging Technologies’ was the topic of discussion for the second session with Mr. Antony Prashant, Consulting Partner, Deloitte, as the moderator. The panellists in this session were Mr Kamal D Shah, Co-Founder & Director, Nephroplus, Mr Subramanyam Y, CEO, Apollo Hospitals and Mr Srijan Bandreddi, Executive Officer & Director India, Alien Technology Transfer, India. The session brought to the forefront the fact that digitalization will revolutionise healthcare in the coming years in India.

The last offering this conclave was a panel discussion on ‘Accessibility vis-a-vis Sustainability from the Stakeholders’ Perspective’. This was moderated by Ms Uma Sudhir, Executive Editor, NDTV and the panellists were - Mr Raghu Gullapalli, Executive Director, Emerging Technologies, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Mr Hari Thalapalli, CEO, Call Health and Mr Girish Gopalakrishnan, Business Head, GE Healthcare. The panellists debated on the complex issues of how to make healthcare and pharmaceutical facilities affordable and sustainable for the vast majority of Indian consumers.

The conclave came to an end on a hopeful note regarding the future endeavours in the healthcare and pharma sectors in India by stressing on affordability, accessibility and technology as the key elements that would change the future landscape of the industry.