Healthcare solutions

POWER MOVES: GE

Sustainable healthcare. That’s the crux of GE’s healthymagination strategy, launched in 2009 globally. Slated to run through 2015, the idea is to enable better healthcare focusing on cost, access and quality and help level the playing field in healthcare. GE Healthcare South Asia President & CEO V Raja says: “We believe GE’s healthymagination is a script written specifically for India. India faces three challenges in its healthcare system. While 73 per cent of the Indian population lives in small towns or rural areas without access to quality healthcare, over 70 per cent of healthcare professionals live in urban areas, catering to the 27 per cent of urban Indians. The distribution is unfair. We need newer and innovative solutions that are designed specifically for India if we are to enable better healthcare for more people.”

 

To spread the word, the company has also come up with a 360-degree advertising campaign across print and the digital medium in India. “Every country is looking to improve its healthcare system. In some countries, such as India and China, it is about building an accessible, yet affordable healthcare system,” says Raja. GE plans to spend $3 billion (Rs 13,535 crore) for innovations that lower cost, increase access and improve quality over the next six years. In addition, GE has committed $2 billion (Rs 9,044crore) to finance healthcare information technology in rural and underserved areas, besides another $1.5 billion(Rs 6,769 crore) for partnerships, content and services. Of the 100 innovations that the company has promised, 35 have been put into practice already, according to Raja. “India needs substantial investment to build new healthcare systems and solutions,” says Raja.

Needless to say, Indian healthcare providers are increasingly realising the need for technology to improve effectiveness of healthcare delivery. The medical devices market stands at an estimated $3 billion (Rs 1,353 crore) with an annual growth of 10 per cent. The diagnostic imaging market is estimated to be $600 million (Rs 2,708 crore) but is growing much faster than the medical device industry, 15 per cent to 16 per cent per annum. While the market today is largely driven by urban consumption, there is a definitive change in consumer demographics. Demand is coming from tier-II to tier-IV towns where the technology was largely unavailable. “We are experiencing a very positive transformation in Indian healthcare industry,” says Raja.

While GE’s R&D spend has increased across the world, the company has set up three manufacturing plants and a 50-acre R&D campus in India. Recently, it enhanced the R&D centre with an investment of $75 million (Rs 338 crore) to create a 50,000 sq ft laboratory, which resembles a super-specialty hospital. In December 2010, the firm pumped in $15 million (Rs 67 crore) to create a molecular imaging system in India. “We are looking to reduce the import cost of healthcare machines by 40 per cent so that the oncology imaging and treatment can reach more people, especially in the emerging towns. Also, in India, we have tripled our R&D facility in Bangalore for healthcare,” says he. World over GE has many partners to take its healthymagination strategy forward. “Our partners include Grameen Kalyan Clinics in Bangladesh, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, NICE Foundation in Andhra Pradesh. We have adopted a primary health centre at Banavaram in Chennai that has healthymagination solutions, including training and monitoring of services,” he adds.