 Dr ManivannanJt. Mng. Director, Kauvery Hospital |
Medicall, India’s largest B2B Medical Exposition, is organised by Medexpert Business Consultants, promoted by Dr Manivannan, Joint Managing Director, Kauvery hospital, a 750-bedded hospital group in South India.
Early in his career, Dr Manivannan identified that nursing homes, small clinics and hospitals in tier-II and III cities faced a distinct disadvantage in the market while procuring consumables and equipment for their business. They neither had the choice nor the price advantage enjoyed by the biggies.
Talking about the motivation behind starting this show, Dr Manivannan says, “Small and medium-sized hospital owners from tier-II and III cities cannot afford to have qualified purchase managers. Equipment companies also do not have adequate sale force to meet all these hospital owners. Since I have undergone this difficulty for my hospital, I thought Medicall shall bring in all equipment manufacturers under one roof.”
Thus Medicall was born. Medicall is a pocket edition of Medica, Düsseldorf. Today, Medicall serves as a platform wherein the equipment companies showcase their products to hospital owners and decision makers.
Medicall shows are held in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Colombo.
Medicall: Its rise over the years
2006: The first Medicall exhibition was introduced as a small medical equipment expo and was hosted in Chennai. It was very well received by the industry and there were more than 100 exhibitors and 3000 visitors.
2007: Medicall 2007 was bigger and better than its first edition. There were more exhibitors and visitors at the event.
2008: The third edition of Medicall attracted 5,400 visitors from across the country. Apart from hospital owners, hospital administrators, and people from other segments like dealers, architects, hospital consultancy, nurses, and biomedical engineers, exhibitors dealing with hospital flooring, lighting, energy saving equipment, storage solutions, ambulance fabricators, etc., also participated for the first time in this show.
2009: With more than 5700 visitors attending Medicall 2009, the expo bridged the gap between the buyers and users and managed to bring them together on one single platform. In this three-day expo, more than 250 exhibitors from all over India and China displayed their latest equipment. Medicall became a pan-India event than just a regional expo in Chennai.
2010: Availability of unique products, choice of products, and international exhibitors were the USPs of Medicall 2010. It was bigger and more incisive in terms of content and participation. International participation increased and over 400 exhibitors from China, Germany, Taiwan, England and India displayed their latest medical equipment. It grew to become India’s largest and Asia’s third largest medical equipment expo.
2011: Around 7500 visitors from India and other countries like Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Nepal, and Taiwan visited the three-day show. The Healthcare Innovation Awards, instituted for first time in this edition of Medicall, attracted several applications from across the country. More than 430 exhibitors from India, Germany, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Iran participated in the show and displayed A-Z requirement of hospitals.
2012: Medicall 2012 was again an year to remember with huge participation from healthcare industry experts and professionals, as well as several new and innovative segments like fashion show on hospital garments and “Hospital Property Mela”. Over 500 companies exhibited at Medicall. It also saw an increase in exhibit space. Representatives from Germany, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Pakistan and Malaysia participated in Medicall events in that year.
2013: With 530 exhibitors and more than 10500 visitors, Medicall 2013 has grown in terms of quality and quantity. BrainStorm Medicall conferences attracted more than 850 delegates with eight parallel thematic healthcare conferences.
Highlights of 2014
In its 12th edition, Medicall has become a truly international show, with over 500 exhibitors from more than 20 countries and professional visitors exceeding 10,000. The international pavilions will include Baveria, Germany, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Portugal, Italy, the UK, the US, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Profile of exhibitors
Surgical products and services facility management, medical disposables radiology /imaging and diagnostics, medical publications, housekeeping solutions, building automation, hospital furniture and furnishings, HVAC and medical gas recycling and hospital waste management, hospital building materials, ambulances consultancy firms, mannequins and teaching equipment, autoclave and sterilizers, regular ICU equipment regular theatre equipment, healthcare design and consultancy, electrical solutions rehabilitation products physiotherapy/orthopaedic technology, energy saving equipment, laundry and kitchen equipment, healthcare IT and software solutions, building automation and facility management laboratory equipment and many more products to meet hospital needs
A premier event
Come August, the medical fraternity embarks on its annual pilgrimage to Chennai, reportedly the ‘Mecca’ of the medical legion.
It is their perfect getaway to meet one’s peers, to compare and choose equipment and best of all to refresh the knowledge base in the intellectually stimulating BrainStorm Medicall. A favourite with many international product companies, Medicall has these come repeatedly to widen their dealer and distributor base. Diversity is a given in this expo.
Medicall provides a cost effective and accessible opportunity for healthcare entrepreneurs, management professionals and physicians of India compared to a visit to Dusseldorf or Dubai with a more relevant group of products and services.
Medicall’s leadership forum fouses on:
- Bedside to balance sheet
- Recruiting and retaining star employees
- Managing complaints and compliments
- Media management – Good, bad and ugly Medical doctors get an opportunity to interact with business doctors at Medicall’s interactive healthcare intelligentsia meet. It will be refreshing for healthcare professionals to hear about fiscal health compared to physical health. Point of care professionals will learn and understand the role and impact of their actions on the hospital’s revenue. India doesn’t have an institution for leadership training in healthcare. BrainStorm Medicall’s healthcare leadership forum brings experts from far to share their expertise and experience.
BrainStorm Medicall workshops and seminars
The show stoppers of Medicall are its seminars and workshops. Much care is put into this section to ensure they are not didactic and uni-directional but highly interactive and responsive.
The interactive healthcare intelligentsia at BrainStorm Medicall dishes out nuggets of wisdom in a nutshell. At Medicall, medicine meets management.
A wide range of topics have been discussed at Medicall over the years. Topics ranging from – family-owned hospitals to financing of hospitals, lean to six sigma, from marketing to mergers and acquisitions – have been discussed by eminent stalwarts like Dr Devi Shetty, Dr Namperumalsamy of Arvind Eye Hospitals, to name a few.
Topics planned for this year
- Healthcare leadership forum
- Patient safety – workshop on medical errors
- Buyer’s bazaar
- Survival strategies for small and medium hospitals
- Doctors to entrepreneurs – A seminar exclusive for PG students
- Workshop for nephrology technicians
Reportedly, close to 550 exhibitors will be displaying at Medicall 2014.
The international pavilion will include Bavaria, Germany, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Portugal, Italy, the UK, the US, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Footfalls
Close to 12,000 footfalls are expected. The profile of visitors will include
- Doctors
- Hospital owners
- Hospital administrators and various stakeholders
- CEOs
- Dealers and distributors
- Manufacturers
- Bio-Medical engineers
- Academicians
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