Slowdown hits medical tool manufacturers

The ongoing economic slowdown has affected the medical equipment manufacturers in the country as hospitals are postponing their instrument purchase plans.

“About 20 per cent of the industry’s business has been affected in the last three-four months. Fearing the slowdown, hospital managements suspended some of their new medical equipment purchase plans,” said A Vaidheesh, managing director, Johnson & Johnson Medical, one of the largest medical equipment companies operating in India.

India’s medical and hospital equipment industry, which consists of multinational players such as Siemens, Philips, Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare and home grown Medtronics, has an annual turnover of over Rs 5,000 crore. The industry has been growing at an average 10-12 per cent every year. About 50 per cent of the medical devices, which include laboratory equipment, cardio-vascular devices and surgical implants, are imported.

However, this phase will be temporary and the industry is likely to bounce back soon, Vaidheesh said on the sidelines of Confederation of Indian Industry’s Health Insurance Summit 2008 in Mumbai today.

“No orders have been cancelled, and we expect to get regular business within a few months when the liquidity crisis improves following the measures taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India,” he added.

He also said Johnson & Johnson Medical was not interested in acquiring the medical devices business of Larsen and Toubro (L&T). Philips, General Electric and Siemens are reportedly in the race for acquiring L&T Medical. “Earlier, we were selling an electro surgical unit of L&T’s medical division. That contract has been expired and we don’t have any plans to acquire L&T Medical,” he said.

Source: business-standard.com Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research JSG Team

GE Healthcare launches 3 diagnostic imaging product lines

General Electric company arm, GE Healthcare has launched three new powerful diagnostic imaging product lines to help reduce the radiation dose to patients and improve the quality of images during diagnosis. "Optima, Brivo and Discovery--the new offering encompass GE's diagnostic imaging products that enables healthcare providers to do research, diagnose, treat, monitor and share critical information for diseases," said company VP and GM Molecular Imaging & Computed Tomography, Gene L Saragnese. These digital imaging systems are far superior to the earlier generation of analogue system and can examine one in seconds thus reducing the radiation dosage to patients and also giving clearer images to the radiologists, Global GM, GE Healthcare X-Ray, David Wildman, told media here.

Healthcare providers are looking for ways to find disease sooner to help people live longer and full lives and GE is going one step further in focusing on 'Early Health', or prevention and pre-symptomatic disease detection, he said.
GE Healthcare Research and Development has invested heavily in India (Bangalore) especially which employs over 1,000 engineers and scientists.

Describing 'Optima', Wildman said, it delivers the functionality clinicians need to accommodate high patient volumes thus reducing radiation dose to each patient. 'Brivo' provides functionally straight forward and practical package for quality digital results. While, 'Discovery' product lines offer breakthrough applications including real-time cardiac imaging, multi-contrast abdominal images with outstanding fat/water separation and high-resolution muscular-skeletal exams with high patient throughput.

Source: economictimes.com Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research JSG Team

Philips acquires medical equipment co Meditronics

Philips has acquired Mumbai-based medical equipment maker Meditronics for an undisclosed amount, its second buy in healthcare segment in three months.

The Dutch firm which operates three businesses, lighting, healthcare and consumer electronics and appliances, had acquired another Mumbai-based firm Alpha X-Ray Technologies in September.

Both Meditronics and Alpha are medical imaging companies targeting the economy segment of the Indian market. Alpha manufactures cardiovascular X-ray systems and Meditronics makes general X-ray systems.

Philips global CEO Gerard Kleisterlee said at a press conference in Delhi, “The Meditronics acquisition strengthens our presence in India and gives us strong manufacturing capabilities.”

Meditronics, started by Kanti Gada and Vinod Vora in 1979, focuses on surgery and radiography. It employs around 150 people and has four manufacturing units in India. This deal is Philips’ fifth healthcare acquisition in emerging markets in the past two years.

Besides Alpha in India, Philips has acquired two firms in Brazil and and one in China. Sharing his views on the global economic slowdown, Mr Kleisterlee said, “There is clearly a slowdown in developed markets and we are not immune to it. But healthcare is recession-proof so we are safe.”

“There is a bigger slowdown in the US and Europe for consumer durable products. But some essential segments such as mother and babycare products and electric shavers are doing well. Big-ticket items such as LCD televisions are seeing a slowdown in demand,” he added.

Mr Kleisterlee said Philips is looking to shift ‘resources’ such as people, advertising budget and investments in R&D from developed to emerging markets in the wake of the global slowdown: “Emerging markets will play a crucial role in driving growth in future.”

He declined to elaborate on the measures that Philips was taking to overcome the difficult economic conditions except that he wouldn’t mind rightsizing in some markets.

Source: clickjobs.com Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research JSG Team

Global Med Technologies(R), Inc. Partners With Biomedical Synergies to Offer Advanced Tissue Tracking Solutions for Hospitals and Surgery Centers

Global Med Technologies(R)Inc, an international e-Health, medical information technology company, and Biomedical Synergies, Inc. ("BSI"), a privately held healthcare consulting and software development company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, announced that they have signed an agreement under which Global Med will distribute TRACS4Life(TM) tissue tracking software. BSI specializes in human tissue/implant tracking management software for the medical industry. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Global Med will actively promote TRACS4Life to the healthcare marketplace through its direct sales force. This mutually beneficial arrangement will greatly expand the coverage of BSI's current sales force, allow greater market penetration of TRACS4Life and serve the needs of both Global Med and Biomedical Synergies' customers and ultimately, and most importantly, help improve patient safety.
Source: earthtimes.org Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research Team

Bangkok Hospital Receives Best Global Hospital Award

Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre has received an award naming it the Best Global Hospital, at a ceremony in Chicago. The hospital is the only facility outside the US to receive an award at this prestigious event.

HealthLeaders Media announced Bangkok Hospital the award winner in July in Tennessee. Jim Molpus, the Editor-in-Chief, says that the aims of the awards are to make leaders mutually accountable for their hospital's results. The areas of accountability vary from patient satisfaction, to financial performance.

Bangkok Hospital Medical Center receives the inaugural award in the category, setting lofty standards for nominees in future years.

Chris Sharasuvana, the hospital's e-marketing manager, believes that this is only the first of many awards for the hospital in the international healthcare scene.
"The majority of our patients are international residents - the hospital's reputation internationally is growing so fast." "I'm thrilled that we've been recognized in this way, and I expect that it will happen more as time goes on".

US healthcare professionals warmed immediately to Chatree Duaganet MD, the hospital's CEO, as he spoke at the ceremony. Rick Johnson, Healthleaders Media's senior online editor, says that others at the event " were impressed by his candor and found it humorous that many of the challenges he faces seem so familiar to them".

One of the strongest connections between Bangkok Hospital and the remaining US facilities that received awards is their JCI-accredited status. When difficult decisions must be made, Dr Duaganet says that staff relate the outcome to JCI requirements. "We don't focus on administration, we focus on patient-focus care, so we use JCI for everything," said the CEO.

Bangkok Hospital currently serves around 3,000 outpatients a day. This impressive feat is only possible due to the dedication that staff show to the hospital's motto, which Dr Duaganet says is "Work well together".

About Bangkok Hospital Medical Center:

Bangkok Hospital Medical Center (BMC) is one of the most technologically sophisticated hospitals in the world today. Located in Bangkok, Thailand, BMC is an expansive state-of-the-art medical campus providing comprehensive medical care through multidisciplinary teams of highly trained specialists. With its four hospitals and broad range of specialized clinics, BMC is equipped with all of the diagnostic and treatment facilities not generally available at local hospitals. The center has received Joint Commission International accreditation and is known throughout the world for delivering world-class, award-winning healthcare.

Source: 1888pressrelease.com Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research JSG Team

AstraZeneca, Cognizant Announce a Five-Year Deal; Expand Their Global Services Partnership

Cognizant, a leading provider of consulting, technology and business process outsourcing services, today announced a five-year agreement with AstraZeneca to provide application maintenance services to AstraZeneca's global enterprise in the business-critical areas of research, clinical development, and sales and marketing. The agreement will further expand Cognizant's long-standing relationship with the pharmaceutical major.

Under the expanded agreement, Cognizant will work with AstraZeneca's Global Shared Services organization and implement world class, end-to-end application maintenance services. As part of this innovative agreement, Cognizant will adopt an "Outcome" or "Effect-based" model to provide these services by leveraging its global delivery network, talent pool and best practices. This will ensure a predictable service model, reduce the overall cost of IT ownership, and deliver year-over-year efficiency improvements.

"Our strategic partnerships will enable us to streamline operations efficiency, raise standards and deliver world-class services. The selection of Cognizant will allow us to leverage their global operations to meet the needs of our business and increase our focus on our core business -- to make the most meaningful difference to patient health through great medicines," said Richard Williams, Global CIO at AstraZeneca.

"We are pleased to have been selected by AstraZeneca's global shared services organization to provide application-related services," said Francisco D'Souza, President and CEO of Cognizant. "We look forward to helping AstraZeneca identify and deploy operational improvements in its applications process that will enhance R&D and sales and marketing efficiencies, and help strengthen and extend the company's leadership status in the global life sciences industry.

Source: au.sys-con.com Contributed by: DMSMedwire Research JSG Team

Emirates Health Plan Gains Global Reach with HTH Worldwide

HTH Worldwide, a global health and safety services company, today announced it has signed an agreement with Green Crescent Insurance Company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to give Green Crescent's members access to HTH's contracted doctors and hospitals in 180 countries. Under terms of the agreement, HTH will also provide to Green Crescent members its suite of proprietary online tools to search for doctors, hospitals and pharmacies, as well as to translate brand names of medications and key medical terms and phrases.

Green Crescent is one of only two publicly-held health insurance companies in the UAE licensed to offer their own policies to employers providing health benefits to employees and their families. The UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries have begun requiring such coverage not only for their own citizens but also for expatriate workers and their households. The UAE and other GCC countries are experiencing a large influx of workers from many corners of the world because of the region's rapid economic development. These workers are part of the growing globally-mobile workforce that needs portable health insurance benefits and access to quality health services at home and abroad.

"Green Crescent is pleased to be able to add HTH Worldwide's access to high quality doctors and hospitals outside of the Middle East as well as the latest internet tools to manage their health," said Carl J. Sardegna, Chief Executive Officer of Green Crescent. "We believe that HTH's resources will help make Green Crescent the leading health insurance company in the UAE and other GCC countries and enable us to meet employers' acute need to attract and retain top notch employees through innovative health policies."

"HTH Worldwide welcomes the opportunity to serve Green Crescent and its members," said Angelo Masciantonio, President and Chief Executive Office of HTH Worldwide. "The Gulf region is generating truly impressive growth and demonstrating a commitment to the stewardship of its workers -- both citizens and expatriates. We are proud to be recognized by Green Crescent for our leadership and best practices when serving the globally mobile workforce."

Source: marketwatch.com Contriuted by: DMSMedwire Research JSG