British medical manufacturer Vernacare has secured a landmark five-year supply contract with Manipal, one of Asia's largest healthcare management groups, which will create 30 new jobs. The multi-million pound deal was unveiled as the UK's Prime Minister visited India on a trade mission to show off the best of British small and medium sized companies to Indian investors.
Vernacare provides a unique waste management system which is used in 96% of UK hospitals and in 48 countries. The company, which produces 150 million units a year and employs some 200 people across the UK, will roll out its system to five hospitals throughout India, including the pioneering new Whitefield Hospital, due to open in Bangalore.
Manipal Healthcare is the first hospital group in India to introduce Vernacare's environmentally friendly single-use infection prevention system, which reduces the risk of cross infection when toileting and washing patients. This is considered the gold standard globally – raising standards of patient care and increasing productivity. The Vernacare system was first trialled at the group's flagship hospital in Bangalore, which is NABH accredited and ranked among the top 10 multispecialty hospitals in India. Manipal Hospital manages 4,900 beds in 15 hospitals and serves around 2 million customers per year from India and overseas.
As a result of the new deal, Vernacare expects its sales in India to exceed £11m over the next three years and is exploring the creation of an Indian manufacturing base to boost further growth. The company is due to open a new service centre in Bangalore, creating high quality engineering jobs to support installation, commissioning and servicing of its technology. It is expected that service centres will be set up in every major Indian city, which is expected to create an initial 30 jobs in engineering, sales and marketing.
'This export contract marks our entry into the vast and innovative Indian healthcare sector and we expect our attendance on this trip to further strengthen business within India,' said Emma Sheldon, Vernacare's Group Marketing Director and Group Board Director of the UK India Business Council.
There is also strong interest in the Vernacare infection prevention system from other leading Indian hospital groups, including Artemis Hospitals, and Fortis Healthcare, which is trialling the single-use method at its flagship Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon, near New Delhi.
Dr Nagendra Swamy, Group Medical Director and Chairman of Quality Council of Manipal Health Enterprises, added: 'Our group hospitals are renowned for pioneering modern technologies in medicine and treatment. We are proud to partner with Vernacare to introduce the renowned single-use method of human waste management to India.
'This is accepted as a best practice method of infection prevention by global accreditation bodies and it will help us in our continued drive to set the highest standards of patient care and clinical excellence.'
