Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on December 21 called upon the pharmaceutical industry to work towards making India an international capital of generic medicines.

With India becoming the largest provider of generic drugs globally which accounted for 20 per cent of global exports in terms of volume, he said it was an eloquent testimony to the competence of the Indian pharma sector in terms of quality and pricing. 

Addressing the 70th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress at Amity University in Noida, Mr Naidu said that apart from  being the world leader in generic medicines, India should promote Indian systems of medicine. He asked young researchers to work towards standardising and benchmarking Indian systems of medicine and establish the efficiency, validity and efficacy of these traditional medicines, using globally established experimental protocols.

Mr Naidu also asked pharma companies to go above and beyond their CSR mandates to provide life-saving and other essential drugs to those who cannot afford them. ''It is essential for a country like India to provide healthcare and medicines at affordable prices. In developing countries, India is rendering yeoman service by providing access to life-saving medicines at affordable prices,'' he added.

Stressing that pharmaceuticals was a priority area for the Government, the Vice President stressed the need to further harness the potential of the sector through use of technology, innovation and research. Healthcare and its allied industries being the fifth-largest employer among all sectors, he asked the industry to invest in skilling. ''Given the significance of highly educated and specialised scientists in the sector, skill development is crucial,'' he added and urged constant coordination between government and industry to remove the disconnect between demand and supply of skilled manpower in the pharmacy sector.

Turning to the National Skill Development Corporation, he said it had identified more than 60 job roles for the pharmacy graduates and post graduates for consideration under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna which would aid the building of vocational and technical training framework, hasten skill up-gradation and encourage innovative thinking. 

Earlier, Mr Naidu interacted with CEOs of all major pharmaceutical companies ahead of the inaugural event of the conference which was attended by more than 5,000 participants from across the country. Uttar Pradesh Minister for Excise and Liquor Prohibition Jai Parata Singh and other dignitaries from the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals were present on the occasion, an official release here said.