by Amit Sehgal
The healthcare industry in India is growing at an accelerated pace as a result of improvement in services, as well as greater commitment by the government and private sector. This growth led to the industry receiving a Union Budget allocation of Rs. 86,200.65 crore (US$ 11.28 billion) in 2022-2023.
However, with rapid growth comes related challenges, especially in the case of maintaining quality of standards. It is vital to understand potential roadblocks and work towards reducing them to ensure better implementation of quality practices across research, development, and production of products and services in healthcare.
Upholding quality from end to end: The pharma industry is focused on expediting development and distribution of medicines and medical products while upholding a commitment to patient safety. This in turn makes quality of raw materials, components and the final product a priority from research and development to manufacturing and commercialization.
Navigating complex manufacturing processes: Quality control processes, beginning at the testing stage, need to be made more agile and effective given the complexity and advancement of new therapeutic modalities. Advanced analytical techniques and instrumentation can ensure the end products meet the desired quality and validate accuracy.
Increasing supply chain resilience: The recent pandemic highlighted the acute need for life science companies to review their existing supply arrangements and make strategic decisions to enable resilient supply chains to meet any future disruptions. The India life sciences sector is working towards building its API capacity and increasing overall exports of components. In addition, the government is working with the sector players to address the challenges of inadequate infrastructure and build national capacity across the value chain. This will require stringent quality control and risk management practices at every touchpoint in the supply chain.Training a growing workforce. Adopting quality management and control practices across the product life cycle may not be difficult with digitalization and automation of processes and workflows. This ensures that the existing and new talent stays abreast of the developments in the industry and advances in science and technology.
Overcoming challenges of globalization. Establishing locations for R&D, manufacturing, and distribution in emerging markets can aid in swift and efficient marketization of products.
Leveraging the potential of digital tools to sustain quality. Scientific discovery is often based on a lab’s ability to create agile scientific workflows. That means identifying opportunities for sustainable process improvement within the lab framework and engineering an environment that fosters unimpeded research and results. Digital solutions can be used to streamline the supply procurement and management process from discovery to delivery. For example, cloud-based, digital solutions help streamline lab management processes including inventory, chemical and equipment management. Hardware solutions help make supplies and consumables traceable, more secure, and available 24/7. In addition, laboratory data, metrics, and analytics solutions help track and analyze data to optimize lab management practices.
Conclusion
Quality assurance, quality control, and proactive risk management practices throughout the supply chain ensure that the final products meet customer needs in a compliant manner. It is imperative for life sciences companies to choose the right partner that can offer a range and scale of quality services customised to their business needs to enable innovation in an efficient and effective manner. At Avantor, quality is an essential element of every process, program, product and solution, we are a proven partner to life sciences customers in navigating rigorous quality and performance standards.
Amit Sehgal, Vice President & General Manager, Lab – AMEA, Avantor
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person / organisation directly or indirectly.)
