2019: Planning for the Year Ahead

Sweden & India - Partners in Health

A commitment has now been made by both the Swedish Socialdepartementet and the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to make 2019 the Year of Health - #SwedenIndiaHealth2019. As we plan for the year ahead, we welcome your input as your engagement is crucial to this partnership. The focus will be on aligning Swedish Triple Helix life science actors in delivering a structured solution to common challenges in India. Concrete deliverables along the care continuum is the ultimate objective of this collaboration. Once this proof of concept yields results - increased efficiency, decreased costs, healthier community - the Indian government has expressed interest in scaling the concept to other parts of the country. The Indian Ministry suggests Jodhpur, and its new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), as the test bed for this collaboration.

This, of course, does not preclude collaborations in other parts of India and many of our partners and members have ongoing projects throughout the country. We foresee increased activities with AIIMS New Delhi, Apollo Hospitals, Public Health Foundation of India, MaxCure Group, India Institute of Technology in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, to name a few. But these will all be conducted with a view to ensure that Swedish stakeholders, despite having distinct objectives, will be moving in the same direction. Partnerships between Swedish actors is encouraged so that the momentum we have generated results in concrete (measurable) outputs.

Proposed timeline for 10-year celebrations in 2019

• January - pre-feasibility study in Jodhpur to determine scope

• 24-28 February - Swedish Ministerial visit to Delhi (and Jodhpur) in conjunction with the Global Digital Health Partnership 

• April/May - heads of Indian hospitals will be invited to Sweden for a study visit and workshop

• 21-23 May - Vitalis 2019 session to focus on AI & Innovation with an incoming health tech delegation which will visit incubators and hubs in Stockholm and Gothenburg

• September - agency and private sector workshop in India

• October/November - Indian Ministerial or Health Secretary visit to Stockholm along with the 11th Joint Working Group meeting

Other dates to keep in mind

• 5 December - 2nd Private Sector Steering Committee Meeting

• 25-27 February - BioAsia 2019 in Hyderabad

• April/May - Indian elections

• 11-12 October - InnoHEALTH 2019 in New Delhi

• The Swedish India Business Council will also be organising tech delegations so please keep an eye on their website

Calls out

• Big data and Artificial Intelligence for monitoring health status and quality of life after the cancer treatment

• 9th Call - JPIAMR Call on Diagnostics and Surveillance 2019

• Affordable & Accessible Health Care through Early Screening and Efficient Management

Focus areas

• Digital Health - non-communicable diseases, elderly care, AI, Health Tech

• Anti-Microbial Resistance - infection control, knowledge transfer, nurse training, medtech

May I please request that if you have upcoming activities, you contact us so that we can provide the necessary support both in Sweden and in India? We will be coordinating closely with the Indian Embassy in Stockholm and the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi and one of the proposed ideas is to create a quarterly newsletter highlighting events within the life science sector between our two countries which could also act as a status report so do write to us!

One crucial factor we often take for granted

In our 40 years, there is one lesson Swecare learned early, and which has been proven time and time again: successfully launching a Swedish healthcare company in a new market requires solid collaboration with a local partner. One with intimate knowledge of the local healthcare systems, long-term relationships with the key players within it, and a determination to do good. As a celebrity recently claimed – healthcare is complicated. Even those working in other industries, including defense, would agree that nowhere does local values, politics, culture, economic means have more impact than in healthcare. Projections of GDP growth, investment figures, risk assessments, population dividend and other macro figures are not enough to determine whether a product or service from within the Swedish healthcare and life science sector will be successful in a new market. Ours is a traditional sector by definition – nothing is as sacred as saving lives. Introducing new solutions even within our own borders is a challenge, doing so in countries which do not share our language, culture, social structure, even more so. Swecare realised early that our secret weapon is, and despite the advent of AI will remain for some time, our partners around the world - partners who have a stake in our success: who understand the way doctors work, hospitals purchase, politicians fund, and patient seek care.

Swedish Medtech, Swecare, and InnovatioCuris
representatives signing the MoU at Vitalis 2018 in Gothenburg

This week marked another milestone in Swecare's work within the EU-funded Central Baltic Health Access project. While we served as 'local' coaches for the companies within this Swedish Medtech-led project, the success of the program was very much dependent on our 'target market' coaches. In March we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Uganda Healthcare Federation strengthening our commitment to work together in order to support more companies in entering the Ugandan Market. And on Tuesday this week Swecare signed an MoU with Sachin Gaur of InnovatioCuris at Vitalis 2018, pledging:

• exchange of information
• promotion of opportunities
• initial contact and consultation
• networking services

Sachin has proven to be an incredible partner, with InnovatioCuris providing the companies that traveled to India under CBHA with invaluable support. He is an expert on cyber security and innovations in healthcare management. Together with his CEO Dr VK Singh, they have turned InnovatioCuris into one of the few leading consultancies focussing solely in healthcare and life sciences in India. We hope that this project is once of many more collaborations to come.

Tallinn Science Park Technopol, Uganda Healthcare Federation,
and Swecare representatives signing the MoU with
Swedish and Ugandan Ministries of Health as witness in Kampala

CB Health Access program was initiated in 2016 between Estonian, Finnish, Latvian and Swedish technology organizations to support entrepreneurship in health technologies. The program facilitates the entry of Estonian, Latvian, Swedish and Finnish health tech companies to distant markets – South Korea, USA, India and Uganda. CB Health Access provides the companies with an introduction of the target market, individual coaching both from the home country and from target market experts, market information, business missions, and identifying and contacting potential partners, and business missions. The program has a strong focus for the companies to achieve sales in the chosen market. The program is financed by Central Baltic Interreg Program.

For more information on the CB Health Access program see https://www.cbhealthaccess.eu/ and visit Swecare Blog.

9th Session for the Indo-Swedish Joint Working Group on Health

Often referred to as the most successful MoU in our joint arsenal, the healthcare cooperation has done much to bring India and Sweden closer. Though vastly different demographically, our countries share similar challenges due to a very decentralized governance structure and a large percentage of our populations living far from health care centers. As such, many of the common challenges we face can only be overcome through collaboration and cooperation. In the coming year, ahead of the MoU's 10th anniversary, it was decided during the actual Joint Working Group meeting to take stock on what has been accomplished and explore new areas of collaboration.

For the private sector, this means we need more clarity on the recent bevy of policy changes. Although these changes for the large part have improved the business climate, they are quite confusing not only for the Swedes but Indian themselves. The Indian delegation, which included a senior representative from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), very generously shared their business cards with the Swedish companies present for the roundtable and assured each and every one of them to personally call in case of any issues.

The delegation also got a chance to see some of the Swedish products in use at Akademiska in Uppsala and was much impressed by the extremely close collaboration between professors, researchers, medical professionals, investors, and industry. While the Indian government representatives understood that these are the ingredients making Sweden such fertile ground for innovation, they had never truly appreciated how tightly, both physically and intellectually, these actors work together. This was further emphasized during their visit to EMPE Diagnostics at the Karolinska Science Park with which they ended the trip.

Going forward, Swecare, at the behest of some of our members, will focus on:

1. the inclusion of quality criteria in public healthcare tenders - looking in not just the lowest, but the total cost, and
2. exemptions based on global health threats (such as AMR which features prominently in the new Indian National Health Policy) for the price caps being introduced for certain Medtech products by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.

We are also working to ensure more continuity in our activities with India. Part of this will be through regularly planned trips to India and the cultivation of relationships with potential partners on the ground. If you have any suggestions or requests, do get in touch. India is a vast, and often overwhelming, country but the rewards for successful partnership could eventually affect the national and global health threats facing both Sweden and India - not to mention improve the lives of people.

Candid discussions on facilitating Swedish access to - and success in - the dynamic Indian market

Sometimes the best ideas emerge from meetings without agendas, and the most exciting initiatives while you are trying to get from one place to the next. Inspiring colleagues and partners do not hurt either.

The Indo Swedish Joint Working Group on Health meeting, which was supposed to take place yesterday, was cancelled due to reasons beyond the control of its participants. Our partner, colleague, and friend from Delhi, who has been at the Swedish Embassy there for almost 22 years, came regardless and tried to maintain a part of the program drawn up for the JWG delegation.

Yasmin Roy-Zaveri's week started at a roundtable organised by the Sweden India Business Council and hosted by Swecare, during which pharma and medtech companies came face to face with a high-level delegation from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, led by Additional Joint Secretary Atul Chaturvedi - accompanied by the Indian Embassy in Stockholm, Invest India, and the Confederation of Indian Industry. During this open and frank discussion, the key question was asked as to how can India make things easier for Swedish companies to enter the market. Clearly the country is eager to make the necessary changes and indeed has already taken many steps in this direction, including the recent change in policy as regards to medical devices.

This roundtable, which was followed by a delicious dinner at India House, was a precursor to the 'Make in India' event planned in Stockholm October 12-13. The first of its kind, this two day exhibit will showcase the success and potential of the Indian market.

Tuesday morning was much more low-key, and quite fruitful, as the day began with the H2 Health Hub breakfast. Yasmin, Johan from the Swedish Ministry of Health, and Swecare sat with the founders of H2 and some of its members to brainstorm  on ideas through which we could complement each other's work and make our contributions more meaningful. Some extremely exciting project concepts came out of the three hours spent there (no one wanted to leave) - so do watch this space for updates!

The day ended with a meeting at Karolinska Institute's International Relations Unit where we discussed the progress, challenges, and potential for partnerships with India. Yasmin's trip was rounded off with meetings at the Ministry of Health and with some of the agencies who have been collaborating under the Indo-Swedish MoU on Health.

It was generally agreed that the time to act in India was now. The government, with its new Health Policy, has increased its contribution to the Health System. And while the going may be slow at times, the effort is worth it. Also, you are not alone. Swecare and Yasmin at the Embassy of Sweden in Delhi is always here to help.


With that, we at Swecare wish you a wonderful Midsummer!