Philips India has now stirred a price war in the healthcare life-saving diagnostic equipment space offering its pocket-sized ECG and ultrasound at 50 per cent lower than those available in the market. This led the company to commence discussions with the state governments and convince them to opt for affordable healthcare diagnostics to help save lives of patients in the event of a cardiac and maternal  emergency and save lives.

The basic model of ECG-100  is priced at Rs. 25,000 and ultrasound VISIQ is Rs. 10.5 lakh . The big advantage is that two equipments are pocket sized convenient for any general practitioner to carry during a health emergency. It could also be handled with ease by a paramedic at primary healthcare centres in remote areas.

The two products designed and developed at the Phillips Innovation Centre (PIC) in Bengaluru which is one among its key R&D locations of the 59 research centres globally.

India currently has 1050 cardiac centres. The country accounts for 60 million people with  cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 6 million fatal cases.  In the last ten years, CVD went up from 36 million to 60 million. The answer to this problem is preventive and screening to detect CVD.  The number of Maternal mortality is also a serious issue. Therefore, every public and private healthcare centre in the country needs the two equipment which are dependable, simple-to-use and affordable, said Ravi Ramaswamy, senior director, head, Healthcare, Philips Innovation Centre.

“We have initiated our talks with the state governments including Punjab and Karnataka which are now assessing and analysing the two equipment, Jitesh Mathur, senior director, PCCI, Reach Strategic Key Accounts, Philips Healthcare, told Pharmabiz

In fact the innovation in the ECG is its sophisticated transducer which can be  connected to an Android- based tablet smartphone, added Mathur.

In the case of the ultrasound VISIQ, the equipment is a compact single miniaturised device allowing Ob/Gyn specialists to scan expectant women  not just in labour rooms but in remote areas to prevent maternal mortality, said Sujit Kumar, general manager, Ultrasound, Philips Healthcare.

“India and other growth geographies are increasingly important, as centres of innovation excellence for us. This is a fundamental part of our innovation strategy particularly in healthcare where we continue to invest in centres of excellence having a  global presence and local relevance. PIC is one of the 59 Philips R&D centres globally, of which 13 are in Asia and 3 in Latin America.  In 2013, Philips invested over  EUR 1.7 billion in research and development globally,”  said Jim Andrew, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer .

According to Krishna Kumar, vice chairman and managing director, Philips India, both ECG and ultrasound are here to address the complex challenges of India healthcare.