NITIN GUPTA
What was the rationale behind your career move towards being one of the Med tech influential leader? As the originators and pioneers of point-of-care ultrasound, Fujifilm Sonosite sole purpose is to enable clinicians and healthcare systems to continuously improve patient outcomes at the point of care by advancing imaging solutions. I always believe in working with such mission driven & customer centric organisation. Almost 24 years ago, I started my career from service functions to understand customer needs more closely and later I moved to more of commercial roles & effectively utilize my learnings from my previous roles. Fujifilm Sonosite is not just committed to develop best in class ultrasound solutions, but also to enhance education among clinicians who use POCUS all over the world. Every year Sonosite supports more than 150 ultrasound training programs (online as well as offline) in India and neighbour countries. We have installed more than 4,000 ultrasound systems in most of the prestigious government medical institutions & leading private hospitals all across India & sub-continent regions. We have been awarded for “Best Medical Imaging Technology Solution Provider” by ET Healthworld during Intelligent Health & Tech Awards 2020. Also last year our organization has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the company’s entire POCUS portfolio to support healthcare providers in performing accurate lung and cardiac imaging in COVID-19 patients. At Fujifilm Sonosite, we believe that the best chance any patient has at getting better is a clinician at their bedside with the right answers, and the confidence to act.
What was the key behind your success?
Employee empowerment & Customer centricity is the key success mantra for all my professional stint. I gave equal importance to both for all my actions in professional work. We are working with leading healthcare providers globally and FFSS-India is focused on serving the clients with best academic solution in Point of Care ultrasound technology. Our ultrasound products and educational offerings are targeted at organizations seeking healthcare of international standards and excellence in patient care. A Sonosite color doppler system fulfils all the parameters a physician necessarily needs when it comes to achieving better patient outcomes. Our ultrasound solutions are used in more than 21 medical specialties and are specialized in catering to the needs of all point of care physicians (like Anesthesia, Critical Care, E-Med etc.). Our systems are best fit for use in OT/ORs, indoor facilities like ICU/IPD set-ups and for field requirements (like military expeditions, disaster management, Vet, ambulatory services etc).
How the technological advancements in the Medical industry have changed the face of medical science in India?
Availability of advanced medical technologies nowadays let doctors diagnose, assess and treat health conditions in safer, more efficient, and more effective ways and ultimately improve and lengthen the lives of patients. Medical sector is thus proving miraculous every day and coming up with refined & innovative development each time. Various technological advancements includes Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is revolutionising the healthcare industry like never before, miniaturization in terms of hand held devices is another space where lot of innovation is happening. These advancements can give faster access to vital parameters and help in quick diagnosis and in turn decision making for right care pathway.
These unprecedented times affected the healthcare industry to its core. How can the Med Tech industry helping contribute to patient care?
Med tech industry can play vital role in handling current situation with faster diagnostics & via availability of better equipments. Industry can also play a vital role in prevention / diagnosis of COVID-19 spread by various disease recognition systems with the help of AI, machine learning and incorporation of advanced technologies. Point-of-care ultrasound in the management of patients with COVID-19 has been reported to minimize the use of other diagnostic medical devices and healthcare worker–patient interactions to only the necessary procedures. Since the onset of the pandemic, Fujifilm Sonosite is unwavering in its commitment to partnering with clinicians in the battle against COVID-19. We have come up with the new online tools to promote how compact machines are valuable in COVID-19 scenarios and driving continuous customer engagement through online webinars and digital campaigns. We also have a dedicated page where we have compiled a list of online resources which contains relevant POCUS educational videos, infection control information & other related articles (https://secure. sonosite.com/covid-19). Our team is actively engaged with our customer base to ensure we stay on top of clinicians’ evolving needs.
What are your future endeavours to the medical industry as a leading Med Tech innovator?
We will keep innovating new technologies to serve our customers by saving precious lives and are also working closely with various industry associations for skill enhancement of current clinicians. Education is one of our focus areas which in turn help clinician to use more advanced technology for better clinical outcomes. The next generation of frontline clinicians and healthcare providers will be leading the way as early adopters of our newest technologies.
We’re deeply committed to continuously learning alongside clinicians to develop new techniques and improve patient care. It’s a proactive mindset—relentlessly proving, and improving our solutions for clinicians, where it matters most and makes the most difference. That is the reason we offer the most robust education and training programs with a wide array of techniques and specialties. Our customised training workshops, Sonosite Institute – a dedicated educational portal, and SonoAccess app goes above and beyond anything in terms of academic offerings in the medical industry. Our parent organisation collaborated with Partners HealthCare to apply artificial intelligence to POCUS applications that will assist clinicians in diagnosis and enhance quality of care. We will soon reveal our whole new vision in the form of our latest ultrasound solution in India.
A brief about yourself and your organisation.
Being in the diagnostic imaging space from last 24 years, I have gained rich experience in various customer-handling roles and currently heading Indian subcontinent business for Sonosite, a US based subsidiary of Fujifilm. We are the world leaders in point of care ultrasound segment having more than a decade of direct presence in India. Sonosite’s product family has expanded significantly over these years to include a wide range of powerful point-of-care ultrasound solutions enhancing quality of care, patient safety, cost reduction, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. Sonosite has a solution to fit every ultrasound need in any point-of-care clinical environment. Sonosite’s brand pillars of reliability, durability, ease-of-use, and commitment to point of care ultrasound education make them stand out in India and around the world.
We feel proud in sharing that we have been actively engaged in skill enhancement of more than 50K clinicians in POCUS space till date and will continue to serve our customers by providing advanced ultrasound solutions for any patient, anywhere, anytime.