Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu), May 19 (IANS) India Monday got its first high-end medical technology park here as the diagnostic and clinical equipment major Trivitron group joined hands with foreign collaborators to manufacture high-quality, cost-effective products suited to the need of developing countries. “India is 30 years behind (global standards) in high-end medical equipment. Imagine where does a patient have to lie for at least five minutes under low-frequency X-ray machine to get a proper image? Now digital X-ray machines made in India will just need 20 seconds for the purpose,” said Trivitron group managing director G.S.K. Velu.

The Trivitron group is one of India’s largest medical technology companies with an annual turnover of about Rs.2 billion.

“We hope to earn our revenue mainly through our manufacturing in the near future,” Velu told mediapersons here Monday.

Trivitron has signed pacts with three high-end foreign medical equipment firms for its 25-acre medical park which will begin production by January 2009.

Japan’s Aloka holds 60 percent stakes in its joint venture with Trivitron, while Byosystems of Spain and Brandon Medicals of Britain hold 40 percent stake each in their respective JVs with the group.

Trivitron is also in talks with two other foreign partners who will share the medical park facility in the State Industries Promotion Council Of Tamil Nadu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Sriperumbudur, 80 km south of Chennai.

Of the total Rs.2.5 billion first-phase investment of the project, Rs.1 billion will be contributions from Trivitron’s foreign partners while the remaining amount will come from the Indian company and its Indian acquisitions.

“We have acquired some Indian manufacturing companies, whose facilities will be upgraded to meet international standards for low-end medical equipments. The foreign partners will bring in high-end technology,” Velu said.

The medical equipment market today is worth $3 billion, with potential to double in the next few years, he said. Of this, 80 percent goes into importing equipment for domestic use.

“The aim of this park is to manufacture in India high-quality, cost-effective medical technology products suited to the need of developing countries,” he said. “This will enhance accessibility and affordability (of products) to rural markets.”

Trivitron has presence in 16 Indian locations and in Sri Lanka, Dubai, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives and Mauritius.

Aloka has built the world’s first ultrasound machines, colour dopplers and developed 3D and 4D imaging systems.

“We are now choosing India to jointly set up a facility that will bring the best of healthcare to the Indian people at affordable costs”, said Minoru Yoshizumi, a radiation technology expert and managing director, productions, Aloka.

At Sriperumbudur, Trivitron and its partners will make X-ray machines, ECG machines, syringe and infusion pumps, chemical reagents, cell counters, OT lights, mammogram machines, incubators and medical consumables.

Fifty percent of the production here will be for export to Africa, the Middle East and developing Asian countries.