A new facility of Philips Healthcare India to make imaging equipment for application in cardiology and radiology has gone on stream. The products are aimed at the value segment in India initially, and for export to growth markets abroad subsequently.
Set up with investment from Dutch parent Royal Philips Electronics, the Philips Development and Manufacturing Centre at Chakan, is Philips Healthcare's first greenfield manufacturing unit in India, and the sixth worldwide.
The first products to be manufactured in the facility will be diagnostic X-Ray systems and the Allura FC – Philips' first India developed catheterisation lab.
Mr Gene Saragnese, CEO, Imaging Systems at Philips Healthcare, said that Philips R&D centres at Bangalore and Pune had played a key role in developing these products with the specific needs of the local market. The company will bring in a broader base of products in time, he added.
The Pune facility is producing equipment that is affordable for tier-II and tier-III towns and rural markets, said Mr Rajeev Chopra, Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, Philips India.
“There is a ticking time bomb of cardiovascular disease with the 47 million people affected today expected to touch 65 million by 2020,” said Mr Krishna Kumar, President, Philips Healthcare India.
With 950 cardiac centres, India today has the capacity to treat only two million patients annually, he said.