30 Minute Interview

'India is One of the Fastest Growing Medical Imaging Markets in the World'

Since its modest beginning of Esaote products in Indian market in 1991, Esaote has undergone a steady growth in India and now poised for major growth in its product segments of Imaging Ultrasound and Dedicated MRI equipment. K Mohanlal, Managing Director, Esaote India discusses about their newly launched products MYLAB GOLD Series Ultrasound Systerms and G Scan/C scan MRI systems. Scenario of Indian imaging market with Manjusha Morgaonkar. Excerpts:

K Mohanlal Managing Director, Esaote India

Please tell about the company's position in the healthcare market and healthcare IT market.

Esaote India is present mainly in the ultrasound imaging line. At present, we are achieving almost 30 per cent growth in ultrasound diagnostic imaging line.

This year, we have introduced one of its kind dedicated MRI equipment like extremity MRI C scan and the tilting MRI G Scan in the Indian market.

The C-scan is a compact Extremity MRI system, which is suitable for radiology, orthopaedics, rheumatology, and sports medicine applications.

G-scan is an MRI platform for the examination of all musculoskeletal applications from a simple knee to weight bearing spine. Its unique tilting design can move the patients in a true weight-bearing position, which allows you to visualise the actual condition of pathologies.

What are the kinds of products and services that you offer for the Indian market?

In the ultrasound market, we have expanded the product basket to cover the entire spectrum of products starting from black/white portable to the top end Color Doppler Scanner Mylab 70 XVG with virtual navigator.

We offer all the latest models to the Indian market simultaneously when our products are introduced to the world market. After successful sales of Mylab 25 and Mylab 30 systems, we are now launching the portable models in the Mylab Gold platform named Mylab 25 Gold and Mylab 30 Gold. The MyLab 30 Gold is a solution in cardiovascular ultrasound systems, which satisfies the recent evolution of user needs like high performance and reliability on top of compactness and portability.

MyLab 25 Gold represents the Gold standard-in terms of quality and solutions in ultrasound portable systems class which satisfies all clinical needs like abdominal, obstetrics/ gynaecology, breast, thyroid, musculoskeletal, neonatal, paediatric, vascular and cardiology. These new technology products allow the point-of-care treatment to a higher performance level and the patients get direct benefit of immediate treatment without the need to move to different departments within the hospital or to different hospitals within the city for getting higher level of diagnostic information.

Esaote India's offices are equipped with sufficient quantity of spares/ accessories and standby equipment. We have also provided all our offices with our own vehicle to transport spares or standby machine to the customer site. We are in a position to attend the service requests within 24 hours of receipt of the complaint as per the company's much publicised 24 hours service guarantee. In an unfortunate event, if the machine is not repaired within 48 hours of attending the complaint, we are in a position to provide a standby unit which is equal or better in performance than the installed systems.

How has been the experience so far in the Indian market? What were the initial roadblocks you faced in Indian market?

The prices prevailing in the Indian market was the biggest roadblock for selling high quality and premium level European products in India, as Indian market does not accept expensive products soon. However, with almost 20 years of successful presence in India, today, we are considered as a company that sells products and provide the lowest cost of ownership for over 8 to 10 years. This has made clear to the market that our products will not come cheap in comparison to the products that survive for only three to four years. There are companies that sell low-priced products that need replacement with their own higher version in less than four years and customers have to invest again to own the next version, which does not give any big technical advantage over the presently-owned machine. We believe in offering technology that can sustain the usage of the buyer for minimum of seven years and even after that. We have 'buy back' schemes to offer a value for the used equipment while buying a higher-level technology product from us.

How has the diagnostic imaging industry changed in the past five years?

Diagnostic imaging industry have changed technically into digital systems from analogue systems and from price point of view, the products have became more affordable and IT friendly. We have also taken an initiative to make use of the diagnostic equipment like Color Doppler Ultrasound scanners to have functional imaging techniques using contrast media- a liquid injected in the body to create different kinds of ultrasound waves, as well as being useful for interventional therapeutic applications with the use of virtual navigator-- a technology that combines two different imaging modalities-- real time ultrasound scanning and static imaging (for example CT/MR) to guide the user inside the human body to reach the desired target.

What is the position of India in healthcare business? What market potential do you see in India?

India is one of the fastest growing medical imaging market in the world. We find a major opportunity in Indian market because of its growth in medical equipment and have invested heavily last year to achieve success from this market scenario.

What is the investment earmarked by Esaote? What are your future plans for India?

Esaote spends on an average more than ten per cent of its revenue in R&D activities and we are one of the front-runners today in the technological innovation in ultrasound and dedicated MRI market. Finding a good growth opportunity for our products in India, Esaote SpA- have already opened a direct office at Gurgaon, India. This has facilitated our operations in India to have the necessary financial resources and growth apart from the technical and academic support. We conduct workshops, seminars and training programmes on how to use our equipment to the best of its capability in various clinical application areas.

In India, we have a market share of approximately 10 per cent in the medium and high level Color Dopplers. We have also made a successful introduction of the extremity MRI and the tilting MRI this year. We hope to grow this market considerably during the coming years by increasing manpower and resources for better promotion of its vast basket of Ultrasound products in India.

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