GE Healthcare-Technologies, a unit of GE International Inc, expects a strong year ahead, on the back of sterling results in the fourth quarter of 2005. General manager Arun Sharma said South-East Asia finished strongly in the fourth quarter, Malaysia accounting for over a fifth of the amount. Total sales for 2005 exceeded RM300 million, growing nearly 40 per cent from the previous year.
At present, Malaysia is the company's biggest market and largest revenue contributor in the region followed by Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Growth has been fuelled by breakthrough technologies such as GE's trademark Computer Tomography (CT) scanner, nicknamed the 5-Beat Cardiac, which can examine the condition of the heart in five seconds compared to existing treatments, which take up to three hours.
This development is reflected in orders for GE's diagnostic imaging equipment, which ended the year recording a 67 per cent year-on-year growth in volume. On the demand side, an increasing awareness among higher-income groups to go for early detection of critical illnesses and an increase in facilities for health tourism is boosting growth. Relatively lower-valued currencies in the region coupled by an increase in world-class health facilities is proving to be an attractive proposition for health tourists, especially from China, Hong Kong and West Asia.
Moving forward, GE Healthcare Technologies will continue to focus on delivering cutting-edge healthcare equipment and services to hospitals in the public and private sector. "Governments in the region are modernising their facilities while private hospitals continue to expand to cater to the increasingly affluent classes. We expect this to be an ongoing development as more and more people want to live longer and feel younger," he said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Among GE Healthcare Technologies private sector clients in Malaysia are Sunway Hospital, Penang Adventist Hospital and Lifecare Diagnostics in Petaling Jaya. Public sector clients include the Putrajaya Hospital, University Hospital Petaling Jaya and Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor.
Corporate Communications
[email protected]
business unit
tags