Here comes the portable ultrasound machine

About the size of an electric shaver, the new Philips ultrasound machine, along with its tablet computer and a stand, occupies less than one sq ft. The machine is portable and Internet-enabled. No power-guzzling machinery, tangled wires or a thick instruction manual.

The ₹12-lakh machine was recently handed over to its first Indian customer. The company expects to sell 300 such pieces in the current fiscal, a sign that equipment manufacturers are gearing for an era of healthcare delivery in which easily movable equipment send and receive data over the Web.

“If this machine is installed in an ambulance, doctors will get to know the vitals of a road accident victim even as the vehicle makes its way to the hospital,” says S Suresh, Director of ultrasound centre Mediscan Systems, who recently received Philips Healthcare’s latest rollout.

“I remember taking an ultrasound system in a train to rural areas for health camps a decade ago. Now, fitting into the palm of my hand, this machine has come a long way,” he recalls, harking back to the time when the bulky machine took up the space of a small tank two decades ago.

Suresh says consistently shrinking equipment is making healthcare delivery agile, and communication devices make patient-monitoring easier.

The deepening reach of the Internet has enabled doctors in keeping a closer tab on patients, prompting the $2.5-billion medical technology industry to look at Web-enabled ultrasound scanners, echocardiogram machines with Bluetooth connectivity and digital X-ray machines that can send patient data to doctors over e-mail.

GE Healthcare India, a large medical device maker with annual revenue of $700 million, is offering a service called connected healthcare. Its Insite service has about 40 Internet experts across the country monitoring ultrasound machines, ECGs, and imaging systems from their stations, accessing these instruments remotely whenever doctors need to be helped out with maintenance problems.

Besides that, the Clinical Application Specialists can also suggest ways of obtaining a better diagnosis, says Ganesh Prasad, Senior Director, GE Healthcare. The company has top healthcare providers such as Apollo Hospitals, and Fortis Healthcare in list of customers who number over 1,000.

Private equity investors are tuned in too. According to a research report by Bain & Company about PE deals during 2013, India and China were the bright spots in the healthcare canvas in Asia-Pacific, with investors spending $500 million last year.

Medical device makers are keen to get investors onboard to expand production and enter newer markets. Chennai-based Perfint Healthcare, which supplies robotic assistive devices to private and public hospitals, is scouting for a Private Equity partner now.

Chief Executive Officer Nandakumar says investors are interested in tapping the huge potential for exports too.