Pakistan has earned total foreign exchange of around US $ 867.6 million through exports of surgical goods during the last three years.
The total number of surgical instruments exported during the period was $ 543.515 million which included $133.699 million 2010-11, $185.258 million in 2011-12 and $224.558 million surgical instruments were exported to different countries during 2012-13.
According to the ministry of commerce on Sunday, numerous incentives were given to traders of surgical instruments and products including market access incentive.
Under this, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sent a Marketing Study Mission to Japan including chairman and vice-chairman of Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association of Pakistan (SIMAP) so that they could understand the market access requirements and regulatory procedures and disseminate the same information among their members.
The TDAP also sponsored a trade delegation to Malaysia comprising nine leading exporters of surgical and dental instruments to represent and introduce Pakistani products to Malaysian market.
The ministry said in order to make the visit more meaningful, the TDAP hired a stall in international healthcare conference and exhibition at Kuala Lumpur where delegates displayed their products and met with large numbers of buyers and importers at one place.
Moreover, an 11-member TDAP sponsored trade delegation from the Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMAP) visited Uzbekistan while to increase manufacturing of surgical instruments in the country minimum FoB price of surgical instrument have been set to help eliminate internal price competition as nobody would be able to export surgical instruments below standard price.
The TDAP is also developing a booklet along with updated profiles of top surgical manufacturers who are already exporting to Japan.
These booklets would be distributed amongst Japanese buyers by JICA mentioning that these surgical companies are already being exported to Japan and fulfill the quality requirements and deserve more orders from other Japanese buyers.
