D V Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt of India today said that the Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices sector has the potential to become the world leader and government will provide all necessary support.

Speaking at 'India Pharma and India Medical Device 2020', organized by FICCI, jointly with the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt of India, Mr Gowda said, "India today is a major hub for medical devices and diagnostics. There has to be certain interventions by the government as far as polices are concerned."

He said that affordability of the medicines is one of the prime concerns of the society. "In developing countries where a large section of population is poor and out of pocket expenses are very high, affordability of the medicines is one of the prime concerns of the society," he added.

Gowda emphasized that government is making all efforts to boost the Indian pharma and medical devices sector. He said, ?????????In countries where R&D are taken care of, where academia and industry collaborate in order to build a strong R&D eco-system. In India, we need to follow this. Government has initiated various steps for strengthening the Indian pharma and medical devices sector, he added.