The South African developers of the world`s first non-invasive prostate gland diagnostic system, Moulded Medical Suppliers (MMS), have standardised on the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 670C as the output device for the equipment. MMS, a three-year old public company whose 4000 shareholders comprise mainly doctors, are now shipping its Prostaflo Pro diagnostic machine with the HP 670C printer to the US, UK and Middle East, with more European countries about to come on stream. The HP printer, which is being supplied by HP South Africa`s distributor Siltek Distribution Dynamics (SDD) in Cape Town, was chosen as the sole printer to be integrated with the Prostaflo following extensive market tests, according to Gerrit Theron, National Marketing Manager, MMS. "We tested other equipment, but decided to go with the HP printer and program our equipment using HP`s printer command language because HP printers are well known, reliable and meet the high standard of the international markets we serve," he said. Commenting on the decision to use HP printers in the Prostaflo, Amanda O`Dowd, HP Business Consultant, SDD Cape Town, said: "We`re very excited about the world-wide prospects for this equipment and see the use of HP printers as an endorsement of its print quality, affordability and leadership in the inkjet market." MMS, which was established specifically to bring products and ideas developed by the medical sector to market quickly, has adopted a licensing strategy to enter world-wide markets rapidly. The company has appointed national licensee, who then appoint regional licensees to market directly to the medical profession. "Prostaflo is our first product and has been well received by both doctors and patients since we launched in September last year. We now have 50 regional licensees in South Africa , establishing about 1 000 in the US, and 150 in the UK. Other countries in Europe are now coming on stream and we`ve got other products and developments in the pipeline," said Theron. Developed by Dr Francois Retief, his son Francois who researched the equipment as part of his degree project at Stellenbosch, and Dr Ester Labausagne, the Prostaflo measures urine flow in millilitres per second. A low reading may be indicative of a bladder outflow obstruction. During the Stellenbosch trials, the equipment proved 95% accurate in measuring decreased flows. Although the HP 670C is a full colour printer, it currently charts average and high urine flows in black only. It was decided to use mono colour initially so that test results could be output very quickly, but plans are in hand to re-program the Prostaflo to take advantage of the printer`s colour capabilities in the future making test results even easier to interpret. "Many diagnostic machines - such as ECGs - use low resolution dot matrix printers as output devices. This often makes reading the test results difficult," said O`Dowd. "With the HP DeskJet, you get high resolution 600 dots per inch output, making results very legible and easily assimilated, while its duty cycle of 1 000 pages a month make it a real workhorse in any clinic or medical practice." MMS was founded in 1995 to develop unique medical products and equipment that can be patented internationally in more than 100 countries and have a mass market appeal and wide marketing base. The company, which is based in Durbanville, Cape Town, has a 41% shareholding of Creative Engineering (Creo), Stellenbosch, which has been contracted to prototype MMS products and project manage subsequent manufacture. Siltek Distribution Dynamics (SDD) was formed in July 1994 from the merger of four main distribution subsidiaries within the Siltek group, namely: HiPerformance Systems Distribution, M&PD, Softsource and Electronic Back-up Services. SDD is owned by Grinaker Holdings Ltd. through Siltek Ltd. In October 1997 Anglovaal sold Grinaker Holdings Ltd. and Siltek Ltd. to Kunene Brothers, a family controlled industrial group.
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