Govt hospitals can play key role in MedTech innovation: GIMS director

GREATER NOIDA: At a recent national startup clinic hosted by the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida, experts said public hospitals must go beyond service delivery and play a key role in shaping affordable, India-specific medical technologies (Medtech).

Experts said public hospitals, which handle the bulk of India’s patient load, are well placed to lead the country’s MedTech transformation, noting that innovations developed in these settings are more likely to be adopted across district hospitals and government health facilities.

The views emerged from national-level discussions where clinicians, engineers and MedTech startups deliberated on bridging the gap between innovation and real-world needs within India’s public healthcare system.

GIMS director (Brig.) Dr Rakesh Gupta said: “Government hospitals operate at the intersection of high patient load, real clinical challenges and cost sensitivity. At GIMS, our focus is on encouraging clinician-led innovation that results in affordable, Made-in-India technologies which can be deployed across public health systems. Initiatives such as the national startup clinic reflect our commitment to innovation that directly improves patient care and accessibility,” Gupta said.

Participants said many medical devices and digital health tools fail to gain traction in government hospitals because they are developed without adequate understanding of patient volumes, cost constraints and workflow challenges faced by public institutions. Embedding innovation within hospitals, they said, allows solutions to be shaped directly by clinicians handling high caseloads and limited resources.

Dr Rahul Singh, chief executive officer of the centre for medical innovation, GIMS Foundation, said: “The challenge is not just innovation, but relevance. When clinicians are part of the innovation process, the focus naturally shifts to affordability, ease of use and scalability within public health systems.”

Speakers also highlighted the role of state-level policy support in enabling such ecosystems.