JSE-listed Siltek Limited is entering the over R60-million health care technology market in SA.
The company has established a new division, Siltek Healthcare Solutions, which has been appointed an authorised distributor of Hewlett-Packard medical products in this country.
Previously, these products - which provide powerful, patient-centred measurement and information solutions including cardiovascular ultrasound imaging, automatic external defibrillators and electrocardiographs - were distributed directly by the Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group (MPG).
According to Lynnette Lewis, who has joined Siltek Healthcare Solution as field marketing co-ordinator - the position she previously held at Hewlett-Packard MPG in SA - the company's healthcare solutions are designed for medical professionals working in cardiology, acute care, surgery, obstetrics, neonatology, radiology, medical clinics, physicians' offices and emergency services.
HP's decision to appoint a SA distributor for its medical products follows the US conglomerate's announcement of its decision to split into two new companies. HP is creating a computing and imaging company which will keep the HP name, and the measurement company, Agilent Technologies, which was named at an historic launch event on July 28, 1999. Revenues for the businesses comprising Agilent were nearly $8 billion.
In addition to MPG, Agilent Technologies, incorporates the HP Chemical Analysis Group (CAG), which is currently represented in SA by another Siltek subsidiary, Chemetrix.
"Siltek Healthcare Solutions has absorbed the entire staff, infrastructure and customer-base of the former HP MPG operation in SA. Indeed, from our customers' perspective, it will be business as usual. The company will continue to operate from MPG's premises until early next year, when it will relocate to Siltek Office Park in Midrand which is currently under construction.
"The SA healthcare technology industry is extremely competitive. We believe the establishment of a MPG distributorship within the Siltek fold will enable us to leverage Siltek's state-of-the-art supply chain infrastructure, ultimately providing a more efficient service to the public and private healthcare industry in SA," Lewis explains.
Rob Matthews, MD of Siltek's IT Supply Chain Division says the distribution agreement underlines vendor confidence in Siltek's technology supply chain vision.
"Each company within the Siltek IT Supply Chain Division has a clearly defined role to play, but they will be able to leverage the Siltek group's economies of scale and back office infrastructure to provide unprecedented levels of service to the market," Matthews concludes.
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Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group
Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group leads the world in acute-care patient monitoring, automatic external defibrillators, and is pioneering such new technologies as point-of-care diagnostics. The company also markets patient-monitoring systems, clinical information systems, ultrasound-imaging technologies and electrocardiographs. One of MPG's revolutionary new technologies - automatic external defibrillators for first responders - is helping to save the lives of victims of sudden cardiac arrest.
Siltek Limited
Siltek Limited is the leader in the Southern African Information Technology (IT) supply chain with projected turnover of R3-billion in the year to end-June 2000. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Siltek comprises several complementary operating divisions, each of which is a dominant player in its niche area.