‘Will take year for surgical device industry to revive’

Industry & Lockdown

Surjit Singh Cheema (85), an industrialist, who has been running a surgical device unit, talks about the problems of the industry and impacts of the lockdown on it in a conversation with Aakanksha N Bhardwaj. Here are the excerpts:

What problems is surgical device industry facing?

Surgical equipment include more than 2,000 instruments for cutting and holding purposes such as scalpels, forceps, retractors, scissors, surgical sutures and staples, electro surgical devices and instruments for eye surgery, post-mortem and gynaecology. In the recent years, the industry has suffered a major setback as surgical instruments are being imported from Pakistan in large quantities.

We can’t plan anything for now as there is no surety of anything. We don’t know what will happen next. Till the time, we won’t have labourers or raw material. Even a single worker is very important for an industry and if he goes back, how will the industries work? We will have to check the probabilities first and then we will chalk out plans. — Surjit Singh Cheema

How has the lockdown impacted the industry?

Units have been lying shut for the past 50 days. We are facing financial problems. We cannot even start a unit due to non-availability of raw material. We get our raw material from Ludhiana, Mumbai, Gobindgarh and Mathura. Because of the lockdown, we won’t be able to import the same and even transportation has not started.

How much time will it take for the industry to come back on track?

It will take more than one year for the industry to revive. There will be a major scarcity of labourers. There will not be even 50 per cent of the production in factories. The industry will collapse if serious steps will not be taken for its revival.

How will mass exodus of labourers affect the industry?

The shortage of labourers will be a concern in the coming days. Labour is the most important part of the industry. Once gone, they will not come back soon. It will affect the industry badly.

What are plans or strategy to restart operations?

We can’t plan anything for now as there is no surety of anything. We don’t know what will happen next. Till the time, we won’t have labourers or raw material. Even a single worker is very important for an industry and if he goes back, how will the industries work? We will have to check the probabilities first and then we will chalk out plans.