GE Health steps up cutomised tech play

GE Healthcare, which pioneered a backpack ECG machine for remote areas in India, is bringing in more products and technologies that are customised to meet needs in rural areas where access, cost and manpower is a problem.

Munesh Makhija, chief technology officer (India), said the idea is to design products that can run on batteries and are easy to carry, thus catering to small-town India.

“The products will take care of the geographical and logistical barriers that hinder effective delivery of healthcare to distant areas,” he said.

Some of the recently introduced technologies, which have been designed at GE’s John F Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore, include a low-cost portable ventilator, a light-weight ECG machine, a phototherapy device that runs on light-emitting diode (LED) and a hand-held ultrasound machine. V Raja, president and CEO, GE Healthcare India, in an earlier interview with DNA Money had said such customised products remain same clinically and functionally, as only the additional features that are not clinically necessary are changed.  

A GE Healthcare official said the main advantage of the ECG machine apart from weighing just about 1kg, is that it has an in-built battery which once charged for 3 hours, can take up to 500 ECGs.

“Moreover, as it can operate on a single button, it is much easy to handle. It thus proves beneficial in small towns where power and manpower is a problem,” said the official.

While the ventilator, which costs about Rs3 lakh, against the average Rs15 lakh that traditional ventilators command, can run without power on batteries for up to 4 hours.

The phototherapy device, which is used to treat neonatal jaundice, requires lower units of power.

“As against phototherapy devices that run on CFL and need 100 watts of power, this device runs on LED and needs just 20 watts of power. Also, CFL lamps have to be replaced every six months, while LED has to be replaced once every six years,” said the GE official, adding that this device costs about Rs35,000-40,000 and is well suited for Tier III and IV towns.

“We have sold about 70 units of this device since its launch a month back and are going to export it to countries in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America,” the official said.

The hand-held ultrasound machine can be used in cardiac care, abdomen and obstetrics and costs about Rs5 lakh. Makhija said as the price of this device would reduce with time it could be greatly suited for small towns.

Ankur Bharti, consultant, Technopak, a healthcare consulting firm, said it is not easy to sell high-end equipment, which carry heavy installation and operational charges, in India.

“All hospitals in every town do not need a high-tech 64-slice CT scan machine. But by customising the product, you not only decrease unwanted expenditure, but can scale up rapidly and sell more,” said Bharti.
Kanav Kahol, team leader, affordable health technologies, Public Health Foundation of India, said such customised technologies which aid in analysis and diagnosis are the need of the hour. “The government also has to invest in such devices.”