GLOBAL ambitions
Significant investments in industry leading technologies are enabling Medtronic to help treat chronic diseases on a global scale.
How do Medtronic’s products and services help tackle the cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes?
Medtronic is the best-positioned company to help treat chronic diseases on a global scale. Cardiac-related deaths are the leading causes of death around the world. Medtronic has an innovative portfolio of solutions to treat cardiac-related diseases, such as atrial fibrillation and heart failure. The smart algorithms in our devices manage a patient’s condition to sustain life without suffering severe heart failure conditions. Medtronic has invested heavily in several technologies in the cardiovascular field. Our external heart pump is an example of this, as is the first lead-less pacemaker, Micra, which is implanted directly into the patient’s heart via a minimal invasive technique without leads, removing the risk of misplacing or moving leads and reducing medical complications. On the surgical side, Medtronic has the most innovative portfolio of treatments for diseases ranging from obesity to cancer, colorectal, and thoracic. For diabetes, our insulin pump and continuous glucose-monitoring technologies are important tools to manage a diabetic patient’s condition effectively to avoid associated medical complications from escalating. The future of this technology is artificial pancreas. In Turkey, around approximately 20% of the entire healthcare budget is spent on diabetes and related complications. Healthcare systems and governments can save money by paying for the value that we add with our technologies. Those savings can then be reinvested in other areas.
The majority of countries under my management are emerging markets. In Turkey’s case, if we compare the population size and prevalence of disease with the number of surgeries performed, the ratio is low compared to developed countries. Increasing access to better healthcare is one of the main challenges in the region. At the same time, we have to keep in mind the differences between every healthcare system. In some countries, there is an advanced healthcare infrastructure. In Turkey, advanced PPP hospitals are being built, and there is universal healthcare coverage. Challenges in healthcare are too complex and require collaboration between industry, policymakers, and government bodies. The Turkish healthcare system is more mature than those of its neighbors. Other countries can learn and benefit from Turkey.
What role is training and research playing in Medtronic’s future strategy?
Training and education are our primary means of increasing access to healthcare, helping physicians become more skilled, and consequently improving outcomes. Medtronic Innovation Center (MIC) in Istanbul, one of our seven training centers around the world, plays a critical role in training physicians. It has the capacity to train a few thousand physicians a year and hosts physicians from 35-40 countries.