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Roche opens regional training centre |
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Roche, one of the world's top research-focused health-care groups, yesterday opened its new Asia Pacific Regional Training Center in Bangkok with an investment of more than 50 million baht. The Switzerland-based company hopes to tap a developing and growing health-care business in Thailand and the region, according to Lance Little, managing director of Roche Diagnostics (Thailand). The centre is the company's first in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia Pacific following two centres already established in Shanghai and Sydney, he said. ''Roche's decision to establish its first regional training centre in Southeast Asia in Thailand underlines the importance of this market to us,'' he said. ''The decision was made based on Thailand's increasing strength in the provision of high-quality medical services, its key role in the growth and direction of the regional diagnostics market, as well as its strategic location within the region.'' Completed in February, the facility located on the 19th floor of Rasa Tower, Phahon Yothin Road, has a total work area of 250 square metres. It consists of three laboratories for serum work area analyses, two IT training rooms and two automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) work laboratories. Medical diagnostics, especially in vitro diagnostics (IVD), continues to play a vital role in clinical medicine around the world. Tests performed on samples of blood, tissues or urine, for example, provide a unique source of vital information for clinical decision-making. Today, an estimated 60-70% of medical decisions worldwide involve a diagnostic test. Roche Diagnostics claims to be the global market leader with a 20% share. Mr. Little said Asia was now leading worldwide growth in the medical diagnostics market, where ageing populations are expected to double by 2025. Increased availability of medical insurance will increase the demand for efficient, cost-effective health-care solutions. Studies indicate that the IVD market in Southeast Asia - Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore - is worth around US$300 million.
Mr.
Little said growing demand for quality health care had expanded
Thailand's medical diagnostics business by about 10-12% a year.
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Bangkok Post, 16.05.2008 |
