The Hindu Business Line : China tunes in to Philips' tele-medicine project

THE Chinese are listening in to how Philips India takes its tele-medicine plan on the road. Having partnered a tele-medicine project in southern India — Philips India plans to use this avenue of healthcare delivery to become popular as a local healthcare company.

"My colleagues in China have been asking me about it," said Mr K. Ramachandran, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Philips India, regarding the company's first tele-medicine project at Theni in Tamil Nadu.

Making healthcare affordable is a challenge not only in India, but also in China, he told Business Line, indicating the reason for interest. In fact, Philips India will be building on its synergies with its Chinese counterpart, in terms of bringing medical equipment at affordable costs into the country, he said.

Philips India is looking to grow healthcare from accounting for about 9 percent of its local sales, up to about 14 per cent in about five to seven years, Mr Ramachandran said. And the company has a three-pronged strategy to do this.

While it will continue to bring in hi-performance medical equipment, the company is now looking at the mid-tier segment as well. This is constituted by good performance medical equipment, but at an affordable range, he said.

That would not, however, translate into bringing the manufacturing of these equipment in India. The feasibility of such an initiative is still being looked at. In the meanwhile, Philips will import its equipment from the joint-venture company that it has in China, where it partners with a local company. Globally, healthcare accounts for about 25 per cent of Philips' total sales, he said.

The third avenue to grow healthcare in the local market is through tele-medicine and the company has recently partnered with the Apollo Hospitals group, the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Dhan Foundation to establish its first project in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Ramachandran indicated that successful implementation of the project would result in replicating the model in other parts of the country, besides facilitating similar ventures in China.

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