New Delhi - Health Innovation Day and the Nobel Memorial Week
October 21st, 2011

During the Nobel Memorial Week 17-22 October 2011, Swecare in collaboration with The Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish Trade Council organized a “Health Innovation Day” on Friday, 21 October 2011. Several companies and organizations participated and Swedish State Secretary for Health Ms. Karin Johansson played an active part. The day started with an inauguration by the Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Arne Kallin, Ms. Karin Johansson, the Swedish Trade Commissioner Mr. Anders Malmström and Additional Secretary for the Health and Family Welfare Ministry Mr. Keshav Desiraju.  After, the Swedish participants held an exhibition that was visited by around 80 people, including company representatives, government officials, organizations, students and the media. Ms. Karin Johnanson guided key representatives from Indian healthcare around the exhibition, making sure each company had the opportunity to present their innovations to them. The Secretary of Ministry at Health and Family Welfare Mr. P.K Pradhan showed great interest in the Swedish innovations.

During the day there was a parallel focus group discussion on “Challenges in human resource in the life science and healthcare industry in India”. In the evening there was a seminar on the theme of “Innovations = the Key to Future Healthcare”, visited by around 70 external guests. Each participating company held a five minute presentation on their innovations. This was followed by a panel discussion with participants such as; Dr. Naresh Trehan, Founding Chairman of Medanta - The Medicity; Prof. Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; and Dr. Surinder Singh, Drug Controller General of India. The Panel agreed that innovations are necessary in order to achieve affordable and accessible healthcare. It was also highlighted that creating the right environment and encouraging the private, public and academia to collaborate may be necessary in order to achieve innovations. Moreover, it was mentioned that India has the potential to become a hub for medical devices, given that the government provides the right incentives.   

Apart from the Health Innovation Day at The Swedish Trade Council, Swecare met with several key representatives from the healthcare sector in India. Among these where AIIMS, All India Institute of Medical Sciences which can be described as a combination of Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital.  AIIMS is an important cooperation partner under the memorandum of understanding between Sweden and India, and is currently planning to build six new AIIMS in Indian states facing difficulties providing healthcare to its population. At the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Swecare met Mr. Keshav Desiraju, chairman of Swedish-Indian working group. Mental health is a prioritized area for the government of India and they would like to see a future cooperation between Sweden and India within the area. Elderly care, eHealth and the construction of new hospitals were also discussed. There was also the opportunity to start the planning of a delegation trip to India in February. Moreover, together with Ms. Karin Johanson, Swecare met with Minister of State Mr. Sudip Bandopadhyay, Indian Health Minister Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad and the Secretary of Ministry at Health and Family Welfare Mr. P.K Pradhan to discuss collaborations within the healthcare sector.