Invest India facilitates MediAir
Imagine a minute without oxygen-the discomfort, the struggle to breathe, the pain, the desperate effort to take just one full breath of air and the struggle to live and survive, It was in the absence of this life-supporting gas that several patients in hospitals battled life and death every day. Hospitals were often found lacking in ensuring steady availability of oxygen, which adversely affects medical care and treatment. Several incidents came to light in the recent past where babies lost their lives merely due to the unavailability of oxygen on time. Such deaths in the 21st century are truly tragic and unfortunate, and completely preventable too.
Mediair Healthcare, a joint venture between Taiwan's EMG Technologies and Indian promoters, is a unique effort to strengthen public health in India and save lives. The company has taken a lead in providing the much-needed cost-effective oxygen cylinders to hospitals. In myriad ways, Mediair Healthcare has revolutionised the way people breath with its innovative approach, It has spearheaded the large scale yet financially viable manufacturing of 'oxygen-concentrate machines'-with an investment of $1.5 mn. Oxygen-concentrate machines use natural oxygen in the atmosphere and seek to replace normal oxygen cylinders to bring down healthcare costs.
How has this revolutionised healthcare, especially from the patient's perspective? Ordinarily, an average cylinder of oxygen is very expensive, since hospitals charge the patient per cylinder. Mediair Healthcare provides oxygen concentrate machines-which are more effective than cylinders-at half the price.
Invest India has played the role of a catalyst in getting Mediair Healthcare a plot for setting up their manufacturing unit in Maharashtra, Although the investment policy of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has a minimum investment criterion of $4 mn for land to be given on priority, Invest India successfully assisted and guided Mediair throughout the process of acquiring land in the Trans Thane Creek (TTC) area near Mumbai. Invest India also engaged with senior officials from the Government of Maharashtra to advocate the delinking of the state Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) policy from the M-SIPS (Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme), to make healthcare affordable for and accessible to all.