Schneider Electric has now identified the healthcare sector as one of its key growth areas of the future. It has developed an Eco Struxure Ware solution to build smart and intelligent hospitals that enables improvement of financial performance through utility cost saving up to 30 per cent.

With hospitals across the country moving towards digitisation of patient records and energy efficient structured cabling, Schneider Electric views the scene as most appropriate to chip in its expertise for Greenfield and Brownfield hospital projects.

The company which has a large presence in the global markets in this space for four years is now working to tap the opportunities in the Indian healthcare industry. The company is in advanced discussions with the top ten corporate hospitals besides several private players who have evinced considerable interest to look at energy savings. It is also gearing up to tap India’s government hospitals sector where it is conducting workshops for its chief engineers to highlight the benefits of saving cost and design validation in terms of energy utilisation, Deepak Singh Thakur, country segment manager, healthcare & lifesciences told Pharmabiz.

While many of the large Indian hospitals have already been using many of our products, they are working to install our Eco Struxure Ware solution to drive efficiencies through energy management that are seen to decrease the operating expenses, he added.

Eco Struxure for healthcare is an integrated platform that combines a large variety of hospital systems covering mechanical, electrical, information technology (IT) infrastructure, communication technology and security systems into a single control. “Hospitals are different types buildings with complex environments that run a multitude of standalone technologies for facility, infrastructure and clinical systems.”

“This is where we are looking to be the hospitals’ energy expert to extend support from either building conceptualisation to technology integration and funding. Eco Struxure Ware solution addresses business, environmental and regulatory challenges. For instance, a Brownfield project poses different challenges but we fit within the requirements of the existing structure analyse and identify the gaps, advice on the compliances and safety standards. In the case of Greenfield construction, there is a large scope for tailor-made solutions”,  he said.

The company’s R&D divisions globally have been giving an additional focus to develop energy efficient solutions for healthcare. With the advent of Medical Cities in the country  that encompass not just hospitals but medical colleges and doctors residences among others, Schneider views healthcare sector is eyeing at smart and intelligent hospitals as the future of India’s landscape. The tremendous cost pressure, time-consuming return on investment of 6-7 years will drive the Indian healthcare providers to build smart-intelligent hospitals, said Thakur.