Global medical equipment supplier mulling Lankan entry

27 June 2014 05:19 am Views - 2758

We will not be looking at setting up medical equipment manufacturing here but rather entering to set up a private hospital possibly as a joint venture with a local partner

leading global electrosurgical gear maker with nanotech capacity is exploring Sri Lanka’s healthcare sector for entry.

“We are gold standard in terms of electrosurgical gear and operating theatre equipment. In Sri Lanka we are looking for turnkey hospital projects to start with,” said Tugrul Karagulle (Sales and Marketing Manager of Turkey’s Üzümcü Tıbbi Cihaz ve Medikal Gaz Sistemleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş.), addressing Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Turkey is the eastern-most member in the powerful NATO bloc. According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, trade with Turkey has been on an increasing trend in the recent-past.

The total trade turnover in 2005 which stood at $ 97.4 million almost doubled by 2012 to $ 190.57 million, registering an increase of 95.66 percent (compared to 2005).
The balance of trade between Sri Lanka and Turkey has been in favour of Sri Lanka during the last eight years, increasing six-fold-from $ 14.7 million to $ 88.39 million by 2012.

 Üzümcü’s Marketing Manager Karagülle said: “This is our first visit to Sri Lanka. Our products are used in more than 60 countries in five continents. During this visit, we are meeting government officials and several private sector companies in Colombo to explore market potential.

“We are headquartered in Ankara. Our products are in EU standards. We are a well-known brand in the Middles East, Africa, Russia and the Russian speaking countries. We are not in manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Our in-depth expertise lies in production and installation of medical devices and medical gas system equipment since 1969 and this has given us the medical infrastructure and tech ability such as using nanotech.

“We are ready to transfer the high quality healthcare systems and expertise of our Turkey operations to Sri Lanka. We studied Sri Lanka’s medical system and we think there is a need for more ‘technologically advanced hospitals’ here. Even in existing hospitals, there appears to be a need for modernising medical equipment. We have high capacity manufacturing in Turkey and Germany in this regard. We will not be looking at setting up medical equipment manufacturing here but rather entering to set up a private hospital possibly as a joint venture with a local partner. In that, construction of a medical hospital with our own medical equipment technology.”