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GE Healthcare To Augment Product Dept
Capability
Global medical diagnostic major GE Healthcare will be increasing its product
development capability and manpower strength in the country shortly.
"India is a key part of our global operations and the country is no longer
viewed for its cost arbitrage but for its engineering and information technology
expertise. The country accounts for 15 per cent of the total medical diagnostics
production for the global major", stated Joseph M. Hogan, president and chief
executive officer, GE Healthcare UK during a press interaction arranged on the
occasion of his visit to India.
Its latest manufacturing efforts is the MAC 400, a hand held ECG recorder which
is expected to revolutionize portable diagnostics in India. MAC 400 is easy to
operate. It is lightweight and has the proven clinical accuracy for 12 lead ECG
analysis besides a generation of a single sequence report. The device is
efficient and can be conveniently taken to the patient’s bed side for the first
line of diagnosis by a medical practitioner who would be able to administer
necessary action during a cardiac emergency. The company is working to ensure
that Mac 400 reaches the 500,000 general physicians apart from the additional
15,000 doctors getting into practice in the country every year. Another two
product releases focused on early health model of care are expected to be out by
the end of the year, stated V Raja, president Wipro GE Medical Systems and
president & chief executive officer, GE Healthcare Technologies, South Asia.
The facility in Bangalore at Whitefield accounts for a third of the total
engineering strength. The company is also looking to increase its head count
from the current 2,200 personnel. While it added 500 people in 2006, the same
numbers could be maintained this year depending on the growth of manufacture.
GE Healthcare with its acquisition of Abbott’s primary in vitro diagnostics and
Abbott Point-of-Care business will begin to offer in vitro and in vivo
diagnostics capabilities in India. In the Life Sciences space, GE will introduce
a range of protein separators chromatography systems to address the needs for
the biotech sector.
The company’s radio pharmacy centre in New Delhi has received the clearances
from BARC. In the area of imaging agents, a global trial is on at Manipal
Hospital for assessing the safety and efficacy.
GE Healthcare South Asia generated revenues to the tune of US $475 million in
2006 with a growth rate of 20 per cent. The company’s expertise includes nuclear
medicine, digital diagnostics, ultrasound and IT medical software business. The
diagnostic market in the country is valued at $400 million and growing at 15
percent.
(Ref : Chronicle Pharmabiz dated March 22, 2007) |
