For Terri Bresenham, President & CEO, GE Healthcare India, and MD, Wipro GE Healthcare, India has been a revelation. She has been here since December 2011. Edited excerpts of an interview with Praveen Bose:
What's unique about the Indian market? What opportunities does it give you?
India is the first country to have a large number of multinational healthcare providers. There are seven-eight very active MNCs. It opens a whole host of opportunities for us; in capital management, asset management, supply chain management, among others. The opportunities cut across all categories.
India is a unique market, always very intriguing. India presents challenging paradigms and gives tremendous opportunities. I see the healthcare sector as one of the biggest business opportunities...we have given a lot of thought to business with a higher level of purpose.
Many a hospital is not in a financially comfortable position today. Is there anything you have on offer for them?
There are a lot of ways we can help hospitals facing difficulties with capital restructuring. We can look at their asset base and redesign the way they run their operations. We are just starting that business here. We can bring in more experts and look at the structure and help them become more comfortable with their money situation. We are also into operations management. We have the structure and domain expertise. What's interesting is that most providers here put it up themselves.
Many of them are facing the classic growth challenges — you invest and invest, hoping for returns in future. It's the pace of investment that's got them into trouble. It's very impressive by what they know of their operations.
On the product front, what innovations have you been attempting?
All our attempts start with reducing cost and improving access. It will not just be the change in product design, but a 50 per cent betterment in cost.
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On infant-maternity health, what initiatives have you taken?
Our goal is to provide a suite of products to improve outcomes for mother and baby. We want to bring down the cost of the whole system to $3,000 from $30,000. That's the directional mission. It's in the $25,000-range now. We have set ambitious goals. It will have a market globally. I am only an accelerator in the development of the products. We have a very passionate team working on these. The system includes infant warmers, respiratory systems, jaundice therapy, ultrasounds and monitoring systems, among others. WHO and a global organisation of obstetricians and gynaecologists are part of the development process. As they are not an expensive system, revenue from them is very small. On dollar basis, it's extremely cheap.
What high-end products are you developing for the Indian market?
We have the PET-CT (positron emission tomography-computed tomography), which provides three-dimensional images of functional processes in the body. We also make part of MRIs. This is in addition to the CT scanner that we manufacture here completely.
Where do you see opportunities?
Among the key pillars of the healthcare business are the various cancers. Since India has one of the highest rates in the world, it provides many opportunities. One is the development of invitro diagnostics. The other is cardiovascular diseases. Here, it's giving access to early interventions. Heart disease is manageable.
What engagement do you have with the government?
As a country, India has dismal figures of infant and maternal mortality. In some states, more women die during childbirth than in the pleasant world. That should be addressed. The government has to address these. We can provide access to technology and support for maternal-infant health.
How much business comes from products designed and developed here?
In another two-three years, 25 per cent of our revenue will come from products designed here; today, it's about 12 per cent. The innovations are customised here. There are some 20 products under development here and they would enter the market in two-three years. Today, if you combine our service and product service, our revenue is in the ballpark of $400 million. The service segment is roughly 10-15 per cent of our revenue from our operations in India.