Scientific Secretary Dr (Mrs.) Parvinder Maini joined the National Diagnostic Conclave 2026 as Chief Guest held at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bengaluru on 20 April 2026, organised under the InDx programme, with support from the Bangalore Life Science Cluster, Gates Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation. She was joined by Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, PhD (Director & CEO, C-CAMP), Rakesh Mishra (Director, Tata Institute for Genetics and Society, India), Dr. Harish Iyer (Gates Foundation) and Dr. Nivedita Gupta (Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)), during the inaugural session. In her address, Dr. Maini underscored diagnostics as a cornerstone of modern healthcare, vital for tackling diseases, pandemic preparedness, and AMR. She highlighted the launch of InDx during the COVID-19 lockdown, which enabled rapid scale-up of domestic capacity, achieving production of over one million RT-PCR kits per day and supporting 43 ICMR-approved kits. Dr. Maini outlined key initiatives of Government of India that drives progress, including strengthening R&D, reducing import dependence, and promoting indigenous manufacturing. She noted that the PLI Schemes by Department of Pharmaceuticals for medical devices is boosting domestic diagnostics production and competitiveness. She also highlighted the MahaMedTech Mission for end-to-end manufacturing, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission for digital health integration, and the National One Health Mission for coordinated surveillance and prioritisation of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. In conclusion, Dr. Maini called for addressing gaps in regulation, access, infrastructure, and quality. She emphasised stronger diagnostics for emerging diseases, AMR, and NCDs, and urged collaboration to advance InDx as the National Diagnostics Catapult for affordable, reliable diagnostics. The conclave also featured three panel discussions on affordable diagnostics and surveillance, enabling diagnostics developers and manufacturers, and pathogen prioritisation for pandemic preparedness. Dr. Sangeeta Agarwal (Scientist ‘F’, OPSA), during the panel discussion, emphasized that diagnostics have become central to India’s healthcare and surveillance systems, driven by technological advancements and increasing policy focus. She further emphasised on the importance of integrated one health approach towards a self-reliant, innovation-led diagnostics ecosystem aimed at reducing import dependence and enhancing global competitiveness. Dr. Maini also visited Insectary, Stem Cell Facility and Plant Transformation Laboratories of Tata Institute for Genetics and Society.