GE Healthcare launches first 'made in India' CT System

GE Healthcare today launched its first Computed Tomography (CT) system that has been designed and developed in India.
"The CT Scan is manufactured in India for India and the world and is the result of Rs 120-crore investment and collaborative efforts of GE and Indian Healthcare providers for over four years," Milan Rao, President and CEO of GE Healthcare, South Asia, told reporters here.
Priced at around Rs 1 crore, the machine was innovative for affordability and defining solutions that deliver high quality diagonstic CT solutions in the most challenging healthcare markets, Rao said.
Stating that the scan has been well accepted within two months of announcing the company's intention to manufacture it in India, Rao said the company had so far received orders for 53 machines across the country, six of them in Tier II cities of Tamil Nadu like Kumbakonam and Madurai.

With only 3 CTs per one million population in India at present, GE wants to have at least one CT scan in each district of the country, for which it would negotiate with state governments and local bodies, he said and claimed this machine would reduce treatment cost by at least 40 per cent.
On availabiity of skilled persons and technicians, Rao said there would be a couple of million shortage by 2020. To fill this gap, GE has opened four skill centres in collaboration with top training companies, under Healthcare Sector Skill council.

On the capacity to manufacture and supply the required number of machines in India, Rao said augmenting the capacity was not a problem.

In real terms, the company would commence exports in another six months, Rao claimed.
GE Healthcare would come out with four to five new products this year, Rao said.