Dr. Jitendra Sharma is the Managing Director & Founder
CEO of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone which is World’s first
medical devices manufacturing park. He is Founder
Executive Director of Kalam Institute of Health
Technology- that serves as medical technology policy
institute to various Ministries of Govt. of India. He led
the setting up of Kalam Institute of Health Technology as
a gratitude to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He is Member Secretary
of National Medical Devices Promotion Council, and founder
Chairman of two med-tech incubators - Medi-Valley, and
Bio-Valley. He is adjunct lecturer at University of
Adelaide, Australia; Chairman of Indian Biomedical Skill
Council and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Niti Aayog,
Govt. of India. He has been appointed as the Member of
Global Strategic Advisory Group of WHO Headquarters,
Geneva Switzerland.
Dr JK Sharma
created AMTZ – as the pioneering hub for medical devices
putting India on the global footprint for medical devices.
More importantly, he built AMTZ- a mini city for producing
medical devices in a 300-acre greenfield campus in just
342 days, setting up records on global scale. Owing to his
work, the WHO -headquarters at Geneva, for the first time,
decided to host the WHO Global Forum for Medical Devices
in India, at AMTZ, Vizag bringing in over delegates from
over 100 countries, to celebrate the success of creation
of AMTZ. This is considered as a major diplomatic
achievement for India, on global scale in medical
technology.
Dr Sharma has
led the medical technology progress in India for over 15
years and is responsible for major reforms in the sector.
He has Chaired or has been member of almost every single
task force created by Govt. of India to lead national
schemes such as PLI (Production Linked Incentive scheme
drafting committee), Medical
Devices Park scheme committee, ICMR medical devices
mission secretariate, Bio-Tech park committee of DBT,
Ministry of Science & Technology, among others.
Role in
Covid response:
During Covid,
Dr. Sharma led the establishment of DBT-AMTZ Command
Centre, which starting from scratch became the pioneering
supply hub for providing covid related medical devices.
Today, the Command Centre at AMTZ, Vizag produces over 10
lakhs (1 Million) RT-PCR covid tests, and over 1000 oxygen
concentrators every day. AMTZ is now a member of BRICS
Business Council and hosts the Centre of Excellence for
Medical Technology for BRICS countries. Similarly, Kalam
Institute of Health Technology set up by Dr. Sharma is
recognized as World’s first WHO Collaborating Centre for
Health Innovations.
Specific
Contributions to engagement of India with other countries:
Dr.
Jitendra Sharma has been a consistent bridge between
India and Australia in the domain of medical science,
technology, and trade. Dr. Sharma has been a faculty with
University of Adelaide for 12 years, while engaged in
pioneering work in India in health and medical technology.
Dr. Sharma is also a member of Austrade South Asia
Healthcare Advisory Council- which endeavours to shape
India-Australia bilateral relationship in health sector.
Dr Sharma was instrumental in establishing two centres of
Australian Universities in India, which includes the
Centre for 3-D Bioprinting of University of Wollongong and
the Joanna Briggs Institute of Evidence Based Medicine of
the University of Adelaide.
The 3-D
Bioprinting Centre at AMTZ which works in collaboration
with University of Wollongong is one of its kind centre
which demonstrates next generation work on engineering and
bio-fabricating cells and tissues for potential use as
organs. The science is rapidly evolving and has the
potential to led into break-through work of engineering
3D- Bio Printed Organs.
The JBI Centre
for Evidence Based Medicine of University of Adelaide at
Kalam Institute of Health Technology, also set up by Dr.
Sharma, deals with evidence synthesis of health
interventions and adds the validated synthesized
information into the global body of knowledge.
Dr. Sharma and
his team have also led to establishment of bilateral
commercial engagement between several life sciences and
biomedical engineering companies in India and Australia.
AMTZ- the lead organization established by Dr. Sharma
continues to serve as the landing pad for corporations,
researchers, and entrepreneurs to enhance market access,
regulatory compliance, product development and capacity
building.
Past work:
Dr Sharma
earlier established the Healthcare Technology Division at
NHSRC under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
Government of India and was the Founder Director of WHO
Collaborating Centre for Medical Devices. As Founder and
head of Healthcare Technology -WHO Centre at NHSRC,
Ministry of Health, Govt. of India, Dr. Sharma led the
design and implementation of several national programs,
such as National Dialysis Program, National Mobile
Hospital program, National Diagnostics Program, National
Tele-Radiology Program, National Equipment Maintenance
Program, and created the technical specifications for
procurement of all medical devices for National Health
Mission.
His experience
includes that at Sri Sathya Sai Medical Institutions, as
consultant to World Bank, as Advisor Consultant to the
World Health Organization,
headquarters-Geneva, and advisor to Health Technology
Innovation Centre at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Academic
Background:
Dr Sharma has
authored over 50 research papers, several technical
compendiums and 3 books, besides contributing to several
WHO reports. He has been designer and coordinator for
several technology driven health programs in India and
teaches courses on health policy & health technology in
several global institutions. Dr. Sharma has three academic
PhD/doctorate degrees, and his trainings includes that in
AIIMS - New Delhi; PMDA-Japan; Uppsala Monitoring Centre -
Sweden; JBI Institute- Australia; Harvard School of Public
Health – USA, Vrije Universiteit- Amsterdam, Tata
Institute- Mumbai, MATS University-Raipur and Sri Satya
Sai Institute of Higher Learning- Prashanti Nilayam.
Awards &
Recognition:
Dr Sharma has
been Awarded the European Union –India Young Leaders Award
at European Union Parliament, Brussels for his
distinguished work in medical technology sector. He is
first Indian to be conferred with the prestigious Laufmann
Greatbatch Award by AAMI- USA and has been also conferred
the Leadership Excellence Award by American College of
Clinical Engineering.
Dr. Sharma’s
book- ‘Made in Lockdown’ is considered as
the first book chronicling the complex subject of medical
technology, for the general readers. It is one of the best
non-fiction category books on India’s fight against Covid,
in which AMTZ played a major role, with Dr. Sharma leading
it from the front. |