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Spreading WingsCriticare Systems IndiaWay back in 1987, when Criticare Systems India started its operation with the help of dealers, it was an arduous task to penetrate the market and secure a foothold. The medical equipment market was choc-a-bloc with at least 15 companies offering critical care equipment. Customers were being swayed by cheap products from China and Korea and even high-profile MNCs were slashing their price by more than 50 per cent to stay in the market.But, undeterred by the market situation, Criticare, which was so far operating in the UK, Thailand, Singapore and Spain, dared to venture into the Indian soil. And today it is a Rs 4.5 crore company, capturing five per cent of the medical equipment market.Says Vikramjit Singh, country manager, with pride, "With zero per cent market in 1987, we now hold five per cent of the medical equipment market in India. That is more than reaching the estimated target. The company is growing at 200 per cent." The gamut of products from Criticare are three models of pulse oximeters, two varieties of patient monitors and two kinds of capnograph with various parameters.The technology used by Criticare stands out for being in-house. "We are one of the few companies which manufactures the technology used for our equipment. We also supply it to other companies," says Singh. For blood pressure monitor, Criticare uses the technology of measuring the blood pressure when the cuff is being inflated. "Other equipment would inflate the cuff and measure blood pressure after deflation. Inflation of the cuff to pressures much above systolic causes inconvenience to the patients in the ICU, especially those with high blood pressure. Our technology is safer, faster and does not cause inconvenience to patients," explains Singh. The technology used for pulse oximeter by Criticare avoids traditional problems such as motion artifact and false readings on cold patients."We were the first company to introduce a truly solid state 5 agent anaesthesia bench and are able to qualify and quantify all five anaesthetic agents even in a mixture of gases."

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Singh attributes the success of the company firstly to the quality of product offered to the customer, with the latest technology. "Products from the Chinese and Korean markets are available much cheaper, though not of high quality. Hence we have a tough time explaining the nature of our pricing to the customer. But once they are convinced, we are sure that they would continue to be our clients only," asserts Singh.Secondly, the growth of the Indian branch is mainly due to the non-interference of the US-based Criticare. "They have implicit faith in us. We dont get dictatorial orders from the them. And on the top of �it, our opinion is sought when a new product is launched in the market," says Singh. Thirdly, the credit goes to the "dedicated team of bio-medical engineers"."Our team is nothing but a bunch of salespersons. There is no hierarchy. And it has worked this way, as not a single person has left our organisation since the day we started," explains Singh. And lastly, Singh ascribes credit to dealers who are treated as an integral part of the company. "We have full confidence in our dealers, though we do not have any kind of contract with them. They sometimes even forego their commission to sell a product. On our part, we show gratitude in giving them a good margin for the next deal."But his team attributes the success to this dynamic man, who single-handedly steered the company since he took over the reins as the country manager at the youngage of 28. After completing his graduation from Manipal and post-graduation in bio-medical engineering from the UK, Singh worked in a Dubai company for four years before he returned to the home turf and joined Criticare."We started with a small team in the Mumbai office and today we have branches in Delhi and Mumbai and 17 people, all of whom are bio-medical engineers," recalls Singh.Criticare does not believe in slashing price by more than 10 per cent to oblige customers. "It is maddening to see how a few MNCs are slashing their price to sell their products. We are not going to go that far," states a determined Singh. The companys future plans include �penetrating the market down south. "The south is a very good market, where people do understand the difference between the most sophisticated technologies. We have been trying to penetrate the market through dealers in the south, but for some reason we have not been successful," admits Singh. So in the month of June a swanky office would come up in Bangalore.

Criticare was the first company to: -

Introduce a low cost, handheld pulse oximeter for spot checks and continuous monitoring

Introduce Patient UltraSYnc ECG synchronisation for monitoring oxygen saturation in highly active and poorly perfused patients

Combine Pulse oximetry and capnography in one system, the widely acclaimed POET system

Develop and introduce the worlds first hospital� grade ambulatory telemetry monitor,

Develop Multi Parameter Telemetry, which simultaneously transmits realtime ECG, NIBP and Sp02 data, Digital pulse oximetry

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