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Patentability

The Act defines "invention" as a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application.
The section enumerates 15 such non-patentable inventions which can be used as a ground in opposing a patent before its grant or in revocations proceedings after the grant.

The issue of patentability assumes importance as it limits the scope of inventions for which a patent can be claimed.

Road Ahead

The industry should look at the flexibilities provided within the patent system and the WTO and devise ingenious ways to apply and interpret them. By doing so, it would be conforming its practices with the Doha Declaration on Pubic Health which allows a Member Country to interpret and implement TRIPS Agreement in a manner supportive of its right to protect public health and to promote access to medicines for all.

Comparative Costs Advantage of India

A huge number of International patients are traveling to India to seek quality healthcare at a fraction of the cost back home. They are admitted at private hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment and medical practitioners trained abroad, these 'five-star' hospitals now attract a new breed of international traveller - the 'medical tourist'.

In the last couple of years, much hype has surrounded the corporatisation of health sector with mushrooming super-specialty hospital projects commissioned in various parts of the country.

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* Contributed by: -
Jyoti Singh & Sugandha Bhandari,
PGDBM 2006,
IMT, Ghaziabad.