Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mahmood on Thursday assured full support of the government to address all challenges faced by the surgical instruments’ manufacturing industry of the country. He stated this during his visit to the Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association of Pakistan (SIMAP), Sialkot, said a press release issued here. He advised to take on board all the relevant organizations which include Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) and more for an early resolution of medical device regulations (MDR) which will come in force in 2024 and may seriously affect the exports of this sector if compliance is not achieved by the industry. He assured to seek possibilities at the government level to negotiate with other international certification bodies for providing MDR solutions to the industry. He advised the industry to identify two to three medical devices for reverse engineering and local manufacturing with the support of Ministry of Industry attached department. The minister also directed to review the existing rules and regulations of Export Processing Zones Authority(EPZA) and other Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for making them more industry-friendly to increase ease of doing business in the country. He stressed that all the provincial and federal organization and departments need to collaborate to solve problems faced by the surgical industry for further increasing exports of surgical sector. He was accompanied by Chairman Engineering Development Board (EDB) and senior officials of the Ministry of Industries and Production and Chairman Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), Chief Executive Officers of EDB, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), National Productivity Organization (NPO), Pakistan Industrial Technical Assistance Center (PITAC) and Director Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC) were also presented on the occasion. The provincial organizations including Punjab Small Industrial Corporation, Cluster Development Institute, TEVTA and Customs Department also attended the meeting. CEO EDB briefed the participants that presently all the attached department under Ministry of Industry were cooperating with the surgical industry to tackle various issues being faced by them to improve efficiency, productivity and enhance as well as diversify exports. President SIMAP welcomed the steps being taken by the Ministry of Industry for supporting the surgical instrument industry to improve its productivity, output and enhancing exports and assured their full cooperation to the Government of Pakistan to achieve these objectives. He briefed the minister about the problems being faced by the surgical instrument manufacturers. He informed that the industry needs government’s support for identifying joint venture, partners from China for transfer of technology for entering into manufacturing of medical devices / appliances. Furthermore, brand development, trainings for skilled labour and machine operators, lab infrastructure for certifications, Medical Devices Regulations were other key issues requiring immediate attention, he added. Chairman EDB, Almas Hyder said that it was high time for the industry to graduate from traditional instrument manufacturing to hi-tech product manufacturing and become a hub of medical devices. He said that issues and bottlenecks in this process need to be identified and overcome to achieve this end. The industry needs to work with the government to address all such issues and develop a roadmap for bringing innovations, and value addition to this industry. He requested the industry to identify required technologies and experts to facilitate this migration.