What's next in India

While we celebrate the conclusion of the Sweden-India Year of Health, we have already initiated the next stage of our close collaboration. The new decade will bring increased activity within both midwifery and elderly care, covering both ends of the spectrum where Swedish solutions are particularly sought after.

The importance of digital health will only increase, especially with regards to the management of chronic conditions, but here we hope to develop applications and medtech products with Indian innovators which can be applied in both markets in order to ease the enormous health care burden we face. The combination of longitudinal data from Sweden with volumes available in India could lead to significantly more efficient solutions. New agreements can also be expected within infectious diseases, in particular with regards to Anti-Microbial Resistance.

All this and much more was discussed during the State Visit to India last week. Swecare organised the Elderly Care tract with special focus on dementia, ripples of our dialogue with key opinion leaders can already be felt in the Indian health care community. Minister Harsh Vardhan and State Secretary Maja Fjaestad reasserted their commitment to the MoU which exists between our two countries. The Minister has already expressed his interest in visiting Sweden early next year.

MAMTA Founder and long-time Swecare partner Dr Mehra receiving the Royal Order of Seraphim & the Royal Order of Polar Star

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!

#ICYMI: Be sure not to miss out next time

Incredible India. Thirteen Swedish health care representative traveled to India last week - in addition to the 17-person tech delegation arranged by SIBC to Bangalore, so Swedish presence was particularly high on the sub-continent - in order to begin preparations for increased collaborations during our Jubilee year 2019. With three separate tracks focused on regional collaborations, partnerships in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and private sector opportunities, the agenda for these Mini Delegations was incredibly packed.

The delegation trip itself would not have come about without the close collaboration between Swecare Foundation, Socialdepartementet, and the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi as well as InnovatioCuris. The visibility and credibility of the delegation increase significantly when we work towards a common goal while planning these visits.

Program Overview - Track 1

The Swecare trip started with InnoHealth2018, organized by our Central Baltic Health Access partners InnovatioCuris and led by Target Market Coach, Sachin Gaur. The Swedish Ambassador to India, the inimitable Klas Molin, opened the two-day conference in Gurugram with a passionate plea to delegates to innovate together, across borders, towards a common goal. The conference's strength in fact lies attracting those who are willing to put in the time, resources, and skills to do exactly that and the B2B sessions are unparalleled in their focus on action points. Special attention was given to affordable and simple solutions, especially with regards to management of chronic disease.


The following week included study visits to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, and Max Hospital Saket where the delegation had the honor of touring radiology, oncology, and infection control units at the leading hospitals in the country. The warm welcome we received touched the delegation and we hope to return the favor when these counterparts visit Sweden.


We also had very high-level access to two leading diagnostic brands in Delhi.
Dr Lal's National Reference Laboratory has arguably the most extensive network across India and we got to visit their state-of-the-art flagship center in Rohini. Dr Lal himself received our small delegation. This was followed up by a visit to the more specialized Mahajan Imaging where we had an intimate dialogue about premium Indian market, AI, and quality assurance.

After constructive discussions with a large team at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) cutting across a vast range of subjects from nursing to eHealth, we ended the day with a roundtable among Swedish life science companies in India, hosted by the Swedish Chamber and Business Sweden, and a reception at the Ambassador's Residence. 

Program Overview - Track 2

Socialdepartments trip started with WHO's 2nd World Conference on Access to Medical Products - Achieving the SDGs 2030, where we met the leadership at the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the inauguration. Niclas Jacobson, Socialdepartementet, spoke on Sweden's commitment to these issues and Pavan Aslapuram, EMPE Diagnostics, presented the case for Swedish colloborative structures.

The first day ended with a Team Sweden dinner hosted by our Ministry, where we got a chance to realign our objectives for the week and the year ahead.

Representatives from Socialdepartementet, Embassy of Sweden - Economic Affairs, Swecare, eHälsomyndigheten, Business Sweden, and Forte traveled to Jodhpur on the second day, along with Joint Secretary Sunil Sharma, to conduct a site visit to the AIIMS Jodhpur. The group were treated to dinner by the Indian Ministry at the foot of the Jodhpur Fort. A visit was also made to two Health and Wellness Centers which Sweden plans to 'adopt' in order to test, and eventually showcase, Swedish solutions in the Indian context. We were very happy to see Elekta, Sectra, and Hemocue products already in use in Jodhpur.

The delegation returned to Delhi to join the others at the Roundtable and Reception at the Embassy. And with this renewed energy and commitment, we entered into what was to be one of the most productive Joint Working Group meeting in this MoU's history on the morning of the last day.

Program Overview - Track 3

Representatives from Läkemedelverket and Folkhälsomyndigheten stayed back in Delhi in order to present at the WHO conference and meet with CDSCO and Safdarjung Hospital respectively. They rejoined the larger group for the Roundtable, Reception, and JWG meeting. The entire trip was rounded off by a Team Sweden meeting at the Embassy in order to debrief and delegate immediate action points.

Most common issues raised

• Nurse Training
• Doctor Exchange
• Clinical Decision Support (AI)
• Early Screening
• Elderly Care
• AMR / Environmental Impact

Participants

Much of the reason for the success of this delegation trip rests with the participants - a dedicated set of smart, funny, and flexible individuals. Thank you for coming!

• Karolinska University Hospital
• Getinge
• Aleris
• DocOnline
• eHealth Agency
• Public Health Agency
• Medical Products Agency
• FORTE
• Socialdepartmentet
• Swecare Foundation

Special Mention

• Embassy of India in Sweden
• EMPE Diagnostics
• Gothenburg Business Region
• AstraZeneca
• Sweden-India Business Council
• Swedish Chamber of Commerce in India (SCCI)
• Business Sweden
• Vinnova

For those interested in India - come check-out India-Sweden Business Day

Inkommande Delegation från Saudiarabien:

ledd av hälsominister H.E. Dr. Tawfiq Al Rabiah

De sista dagarna i juni besöktes Sverige av en delegation ledd av hälsoministern i Saudiarabien. Stora reformer genomförs på hälsoområdet och saudierna är måna om att utforma ett modernt och kostnadseffektivt system som levererar sjukvård av hög kvalitet. Man vill inte hamna i fällan där många länder fortfarande befinner sig att satsningar handlar om att skapa stora sjukhus, ett visst antal sjukhusbäddar eller liknande utan istället skapa incitamenten för en frisk och hälsosam befolkning genom att utveckla förebyggande insatser och effektiv primärvård. Ledorden under besöket var hur man skapar värde, och begrepp som värdebaserad vård och värdebaserad prissättning diskuterades flitigt.

Förutom att möta sin motpart Annika Strandhäll deltog delegationen även i ett rundabordssamtal med svenska myndigheter på sjukvårdsområdet samt ett samtal med svenska företag. Intresset för samarbete är stort och man välkomnar kontakter och partnerskap med de svenska företagen. Ett område som fick stort utrymme och uppenbarligen ligger ministern nära om hjärtat är frågor kring digitalisering.

Tre MoU-avtal signerades under delegationsbesöket, en med Skåne Care och två med AstraZeneca. Det officiella besöket till Sverige arrangerades tillsammans av Svenska Ambassaden i Riyadh, Business Sweden och Swecare.

Myndigheter:

• eHälsomyndigheten
• Folkhälsomyndigheten
• Läkemedelsverket
• Socialstyrelsen

Företag:

• Aleris
• AlerisX
• AstraZeneca
• Bactiguard
• Diaverum
• Essity
• Getinge
• GHP
• Global Pharma Consulting
• MinDoktor
• Mölnlycke Health Care
• Sectra Imaging
• Skåne Care
• Sobi
• Surgical Science
• Sweco
• TSS
• UCR - Uppsala Clinical Research Center
• Vironova

Studiebesök till:

• Sofiahemmet
• Vironova
• Folkhälsomyndigheten
• AstraZeneca Mölndal
• Volvo
• GHP
• Sahlgrenska

Om du är intresserad av att delta i nästa planerade aktivitet med Saudiarabien under hösten, hör gärna av dig till Swecare.

Central Baltic Health Access - Dissemination Seminars

Central Baltic Health Access is an EU-funded program that aims to help health care companies access distant markets. The program started 2.5 years ago, and has helped more than 50 companies in the partner countries reach markets in India, South Korea, Uganda and the US. 

Swedish companies presenting at InnoHealth in New Delhi, September 2017

The dissemination seminars are part of the finalizing activities, and last week we met with companies who have entered India and Uganda through the program, as well as companies and organizations interested in learning from their experiences. The idea of sharing expericence and lessons learned proved to be just the right thing:

After having completed my post-graduate studies, I realized that I had, in fact, learned more from my classmates than from my coursework. This is similar to my experience when participating in, and sometimes even leading, Swecare seminars. When considering markets like South Korea, Uganda, India, and the US, the companies need us mostly as a platform to connect with each other and to potential local partners. This might seem trivial at the outset, but if you look for opportunities to meet possible competitors or like-minded companies interested in similar markets at a neutral setting, hosted by an organization without its own agenda - you may come up empty-handed. And this has really been the strength of the Central Baltic Health Access program from the outset.

The dissemination seminars are meant for the companies who participated in the trips, but Swedish Medtech and Swecare decided to extend the invitation to all the companies in our networks which may be interested in the chosen markets. The participating companies thus got the chance to share their experiences and also meet new potential allies in their efforts to enter a new market. It also gave us the chance to discuss concrete activities to ensure that the momentum of our relationships, with each other, the target market coaches, and local partners, could result in concrete deals.

Follow-up trips to all four countries are already being planned so make sure not to miss out! So far Swecare has plans for delegation trips to Bangalore, India (February 14-16) and Uganda and Rwanda (March 19-23). Contact us for more details.

CBHA Uganda Business Mission visiting International Hospital Kampala, August 2017