GE Healthcare, the US$17 billion healthcare business of general electric company, has entered into the home healthcare market in India through introduction of sleep care and home respiratory care solutions. The home health solutions are added through acquisition of Vital Signs Inc and its subsidiary Breas Medical AB.
Vital Signs is a global provider of medical products applicable to a wide range of care areas such as anaesthesia, respiratory, sleep therapy and emergency medicine. Vital Signs has a broad product portfolio of innovative single-patient use products which offer significant cost advantages and improved patient care features, including reducing the likelihood of transmitting infections from one patient to another. Single patient-use technologies contribute to a reduction in patient mortality through limiting hospital-acquired infections. Vital Signs products will highly complement GE Healthcare's leading anaesthesia delivery, patient monitoring and acute respiratory offerings.
"Home Healthcare is largely untapped, while at the same time, a fast growing market in India. This global acquisition is consistent with GE's strategy to invest in high technology, innovative businesses that deliver top-line growth and earnings expansion. This acquisition takes us one step closer to our vision - 'Early Health'," said V Raja, president & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia. "It is a strong, strategic fit and allows us to address the individual patient directly, for the first time. This is our first foray into Home Health in India," he added.
Many healthcare conditions and diseases can be managed successfully at home, giving the patient a chance to maintain as normal and productive a life as possible. With the added solutions from Vital Signs acquisition, GE Healthcare can help provide flexibility to patients who want to come home and continue care, cost effectively.
Sleep apnea is very common, as common as adult diabetes and affects more than 36 million Indians. Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that can lead to significant consequences like high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, stroke, etc. A person affected by sleep apnea may be unaware of the condition or notice its symptoms. Due to lack of awareness programs, a vast majority is undiagnosed and therefore untreated. Sleep apnea affects any one irrespective of whether they are in urban or rural areas, infant or elderly. Middle-aged males are the most vulnerable.
Sleep apnea disorders are easily treatable through continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). CPAP treatment is safe, effective and non-invasive and employed in iSleep solutions offered by GE Healthcare through this acquisition. iSleep is portable, intuitive and designed for home use.
Today in India, many chronic diseases or injury conditions require long-term ventilation support and hospitalization. This leads to high hospitalization expenses for the patient as well as hospitals unable to offer the bed to other critical and needy patients. Non-invasive, easy to use, designed for home ventilators can enable the patients to come home early and continue the quality care at home, cost effectively. The Vivo series of electronic ventilation solutions from this acquisition will be available in India.
Both iSleep and Vivo solutions are developed and produced in Sweden by Breas Medical AB.
"At GE Healthcare we are very pleased to enter the home health and sleep care market. As a company we look for strategic ways to strengthen the breadth and depth of our product portfolio in response to customers needs. We are proud to provide a holistic offering of both respiratory and sleep therapy solutions. Moreover, now with our iSleep products, we continue to provide clinicians solutions for better patient care with the aim to improve patient quality of life," said S Ganesh Prasad, vice president - Clinical Systems, GE Healthcare, India.
Breas Medical AB offers medical device products for respiratory support. Breas is an international company in an expansive industry. Breas head office is located in Mölnlycke, Sweden, with a team of around 70 employees. Breas has subsidiaries in sales and marketing located in Germany, France, England, Spain, Belgium and the US. Breas network of distributors service other markets globally. Breas employ around 30 people at our subsidiaries. Breas develop, manufacture and market our products at our head office. Breas put great emphasis on design and user friendliness and offer modern and clinically advanced products. Breas Medical AB is a part of GE Healthcare.