Brandon lights the way to overseas production
Award-winning medical lighting specialist Brandon Medical is to start production in India under an agreement with the country’s biggest medical technology provider Trivitron Healthcare.
The tie-up, which has seen Brandon put down an initial $2m (£1.37m) investment, will enable the firm to make shadowless theatre lights at a new joint manufacturing facility at Trivitron’s medical technology part in Chennai.
Production will be under way by the end of the year.
Graeme Hall, Brandon’s managing director, said that India’s healthcare infrastructure was improving rapidly for both the indigenous population and for health tourism and that the facility would be a first for the country.
“It is swiftly becoming a favourite destination to visit for surgical interventions and is keen to match its infrastructure and technology with Europe and the US,” he added.
“As a result of our decision to expand with a manufacturing facility in India, we identified Trivitron as India’s best healthcare company. Its creation of a first-of-its-kind, world class medical technology park in Chennai provided an ideal opportunity to establish our first manufacturing base outside the UK.”
Trivitron’s managing director, Dr GSK Velu, said that the focus of the firm’s medical technology park was the manufacture of the best equipment for critical care, cardiac care, imaging and routine laboratory diagnostics.
“The objective is to make high quality, yet cost-effective products suited to the needs of developing countries and achieving savings of up to 40% on the cost of imported equipment,” he said.
Ian Williams, director of policy at Leeds Chamber of Commerce, said that the deal further highlighted Leeds as a leading UK centre for healthcare technology.
He continued: “It’s great to see an innovative company like Brandon going up a league and establishing a leading international presence in this market.”
Last year Brandon, which specialises in operating theatre equipment and AV systems, was awarded two Innovator/08 awards in recognition of its enterprising lighting systems including one for its high definition light emitting diodes – a super bright light used both surgically and medically.
The company also won the Collaborative Innovation Award supported by the Technology Strategy Board, for its MedLink collaboration with Imperial College and the Department of Health for an automated lighting control used in surgery.
The light moves automatically for surgeons, so they don’t have to touch it.
