Johnson & Johnson, India has expressed keen interest in joining the government's National Health Protection Scheme, a tie-up that will be both financial, and as initiative to provide better healthcare to more people in the country.

Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Medical India is keen to join the government's National Health Protection Mission -- Ayushman Bharat -- which recently got the Cabinet nod, according to a top official of the company. "We are exploring the possibility. It could be a financial tie-up, it could be a tie-up which will reach more people," Managing Director of J&J Medical India, said Sushobhan Dasgupta when asked whether talks were on with the government for a possible tie-up.

With the implementation of the centrally sponsored scheme, which aims to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, skilling and enhancing the skills of healthcare professionals would also get a push, Dasgupta said. He said the company plans to partner with the government through its recently launched mobile training centre buses and expressed hope that talks regarding the tie-up takes a concrete shape by the end of June. "If that fits in, and I believe (it) will fit in, we can then look at multiplying the number of buses as well," Dasgupta told in an interview.

Last week, the institute launched a specialised bus in the capital city to travel across the country and provide hands-on surgery training to around 25,000 healthcare professionals in the next five years. Named "Johnson & Johnson Institute on Wheels", this mobile training centre aims at enhancing the surgical skills of doctors, nurses and para medical staff to address the demands of current health care delivery system and provide better outcomes to patients. "We will cover not only tier-I, but tier-II and tier-III cities (as well)... in the medical colleges, train up the residents and (also) use up the faculty from those colleges," he added.

Dasgupta also stressed on the "right balance" between imported and domestically medical devices. Speaking on the government's emphasis on the domestic production of medical devices in India, Dasgupta said, "No country can prosper with only imported products. We need to get the right balance between imported products and domestic products. There has to be a balance." He added that though in its nascent stage, the future of the Indian medical devices industry "seems very bright".