‘Our integration with Linde Group gives us a vantage of being a part of a globally renowned technology and innovation driven organisation’

Can you please elaborate on the re-branding exercise carried out by the company recently? Now, how do you plan to position Linde India’s Healthcare division in the country?

Biswarup Ghosh

Linde India (formerly known as BOC India) has been a member of the Linde Group (the world-leading gases and engineering company) since 2006, following the Linde Group’s acquisition of the BOC Group worldwide. However, on February 18, 2013, we formally re-branded as Linde India. The name change was a part of the re-branding exercise and in phases our assets- trucks, cylinders and storage tanks would be re-branded. Our integration with the Linde Group gives us a vantage of being a part of the globally renowned technology and innovation driven organisation.

Linde India Healthcare is a quality product supplier under Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) 2010 standards and employs best operating practices in safety and manufacturing. Under this light, Linde India Healthcare would be a total gas solution provider for supplying oxygen and anesthetic gases; including the intricate medical gas pipeline services (MGPS) to a large number of customers across India like it does to the existing customers like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Fortis Healthcare etc. We are the one stop shop for all your hospital care business.

Tell us about the new initiatives planned by Linde India’s Healthcare Division.

Linde India Healthcare understands the pulse of the consumer and hence provides customised, innovative solutions like Total Gas Management for our large liquid medical oxygen consumers.

To cater to all the innumerable issues of managing medical gases like supply, monitoring, system maintenance, medical gas compliance standards and regulations, comprehensive solution like QI Medical Gas Services encompasses specialist support to ensure your medical gas supply systems and routines meet best practice standards for quality, safety, reliability and efficiency.

Among other initiatives, we wish to have a pan-India foothold and hence look forward to setting up medical gas manufacturing facilities in Tier-II cities.

The company, it is learnt has invested on creating a world-class infrastructure for manufacturing, storing and pipeline distribution. Can you elaborate on the same?

Linde India has been a follower of best manufacturing and best operating practices from across the globe in its quest to advance further in the industrial maturity road map. Linde India owns and operates India’s largest air separation plant in Jamshedpur and runs more than 20 production facilities and filling stations across the country. Our state-of-the-art production sites adhere to stringent norms of safety (employees & customers), quality thereby delivering and assuring reliability of the products. The gases cylinders used by Linde India Limited are PESO standards while our manufacturing plants ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified.

Safe and timely distribution and delivery of gases are critical components of your business. How do you plan to strengthen the system further to ensure safety and quality of the product?

Linde Healthcare is committed to quality care and patient safety, supported by pharmaceutical and medical device regulations and standards, from the selection of raw materials through production to the administration of the gases. The critical components of safe and timely distribution is thoroughly followed by the National Scheduling Centre (NSC), that tracks each GPS-enabled truck during its journey; knowing their precise location and even driving speed. While on the other hand, our Liquid Medical Oxygen installations have a telemetry device that helps the same NSC to monitor our customer’s stock level and manage their stock without any hamper in the supply of the precious life-saving gas.

Linde India is a leader in the field of medical gases. Tell us about the wide range of medical gases produced by the Company and your strengths in this regard.

Linde Healthcare is committed to quality care and patient safety, supported by pharmaceutical and medical device regulations and standards, from the selection of raw materials through production to the administration of the gases. Our medical gases production portfolio offers medical oxygen, Entonox, medical air, medical carbon dioxide, medical nitrogen, pulmonary function test gases and gases for blood gas analyzers. We also provide oxygen concentrators for home oxygen therapy.

We stay aligned with clinical progress and continue to design and redesign solutions that meet the unique needs of healthcare professionals and patients. We support our customers in every aspect of the delivery and use of medical gases, including logistics, safety systems, technical solutions, service, training and extensive customer service which culminates as our strength areas.

The Indian healthcare sector is growing annually at 12-15 per cent, in light of this what kind of opportunities and possibilities does it offer to Linde India Healthcare in terms of new business generation?

Linde India Healthcare perceives huge opportunities. We expect super specialty hospitals sprucing up in Tier-II cities like Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Vizag, Trichy and Kochi. We continuously strive to innovate for our customers with a passion to excel, empowering them in the process and our global footprint ensures we thrive through diversity.

Our product offering of complete hospital care business of medical gases and medical gas pipelines should be the key driver for new business generation.

What has been the response from the healthcare institutions of the country and especially from the eastern region?

The response from the healthcare institutions of the country has been tremendous. We have a long legacy of serving the healthcare institutions both private and government in the Eastern Region for the past seven decades. Our customers have been extremely positive and encouraging about the new initiatives we propose like total gas management, safety trainings or clinical trials.

Tell us about your future plans.

We expect to grow in homecare segment of our business for starters in Kolkata, our power zone; typically for serving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who are prescribed to undergo long term oxygen therapy (LTOT).