GE Healthcare takes big leap in Make in India journey

GE Healthcare, a unit of US-based General Electric Company, on Wednesday launched Revolution ACT -- a new, computed tomography scanner.

In line with the company’s Make in India efforts, the scanner has been designed, developed and manufactured at GE’s facility in Bengaluru.

The product, 26th from the company which is made in India, will be marketed in tier-II and tier-III cities.

It will also be exported to southeast Asian countries, said John Flannery, president and chief executive officer, GE Healthcare.

GE Healthcare has already filed five global patents for its design and engineering. 

“This is an affordable CT scanner developed over the past four years in Bengaluru at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 bilion).

“About 75 engineers at our R&D (research and development) centre here worked for the design and development in collaboration with 500 healthcare providers from both urban and rural settings.

“We are offering it at less than Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million), which is 40 per cent less than an imported machine,” said Flannery.

He added that the company would manufacture around 200 units a year and scale it up to 1,000 units a year depending on demand.

Currently, there are around 3,500 CT scanners used in Indian hospitals, which is about a fifth of China’s size.

“The healthcare market in India is booming in secondary cities and we want to expand our market,” said Terri Bresenham, president and CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia. Revolution ACT consumes 40 per cent less energy and has been manufactured with about 35 per cent components sourced within India, she added.

Bresenham said GE Healthcare had recently formed a new national network -- GenWorks Health Pvt Ltd -- to distribute and service its equipment in tier-II to tier-IV cities in India. GenWorks has commenced operations with 150 trained professionals.

To begin with, the company will focus on 450 towns to offer training and support closer to healthcare providers.

According to a company official, GE Healthcare is awaiting approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for the new scanner and sales will begin soon after getting that. The product has already got the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration.

Image: GE Healthcare employees work on MACi, a portable electrocardiogram machine, in Bengaluru. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters