Month: February 2025

Medical device maker Medtronic is looking at options to modify its global manufacturing footprint as part of efforts to mitigate any impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans, a company executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company, whose products range from insulin pumps to surgical robots, has been closely monitoring Trump’s tariff plans due to its presence in Mexico. The country houses the device maker’s third largest manufacturing facility, according to its latest annual report.

“We continue to look at ways to optimize our manufacturing footprint,” Medtronic’s Chief Technology Officer Ken Washington said on the sidelines of the BioAsia conference in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

Trump imposed 25% duties on imports from Mexico and Canada that were to go into effect in early February, but then paused them until March 4, pending negotiations with those two nations.

Medtronic’s Washington did not comment on whether India was part of the strategy to refine the manufacturing operations. The company had in 2021 launched its largest research and developmental center outside of the US in Telangana.

Washington said the company would stay focused on its core work in a reply to Trump’s threats to impose a “25% or higher” levies on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports.

“A company like Medtronic can’t survive for 75 years if you don’t learn the skill of navigating the ups and downs, and ebbs and flows of different political platforms.”

Washington said he was focused on the adoption of artificial intelligence. He expects digital and AI roles to grow and digital spending to increase, without providing specific details.

“We have set expectations that everyone should embrace AI as a way of doing business.” Reuters

A popular medical monitor is the latest device produced in China to receive scrutiny for its potential cyber risks.  However, it is not the only health device we should be concerned about. Experts say the proliferation of Chinese health-care devices in the U.S. medical system is a cause for concern across the entire ecosystem.

The Contec CMS8000 is a popular medical monitor that tracks a patient’s vital signs.  The device tracks electrocardiograms, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, non-invasive blood pressure, temperature, and respiration rate.  In recent months, the FDA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) both warned about a “backdoor” in the device, an “easy-to-exploit vulnerability that could allow a bad actor to alter its configuration.”

CISA’s research team described “anomalous network traffic” and the backdoor “allowing the device to download and execute unverified remote files” to an IP address not associated with a medical device manufacturer or medical facility but a third-party university — “highly unusual characteristics” that go against generally accepted practices, “especially for medical devices.”

“When the function is executed, files on the device are forcibly overwritten, preventing the end customer—such as a hospital—from maintaining awareness of what software is running on the device,” CISA wrote.

The warnings says such configuration alteration could lead to, for instance, the monitor saying that a patient’s kidneys are malfunctioning or breathing failing, and that could cause medical staff to administer unneeded remedies that could be harmful.

The Contec equipment’s vulnerability doesn’t surprise medical and IT experts who have warned for years that medical device security is too lax.

Hospitals are worried about cyber risks
“This is a huge gap that is about to explode,” said Christopher Kaufman, a business professor at Westcliff University in Irvine, California, who specializes in IT and disruptive technologies, specifically referring to the security gap in many medical devices.

The American Hospital Association, which represents over 5,000 hospitals and clinics in the U.S., agrees. It views the proliferation of Chinese medical devices as a serious threat to the system.

As for the Contec monitors specifically, the AHA says the problem urgently needs to be addressed.

“We have to put this at the top of the list for the potential for patient harm; we have to patch before they hack,” said John Riggi, national advisor for cybersecurity and risk for the American Hospital Association.  Riggi also served in FBI counterterrorism roles before joining the AHA.

CISA reports that no software patch is available to help mitigate this risk, but in its advisory said the government is currently working with Contec.

Contec, headquartered in Qinhuangdao, China,  did not return a request for comment.

One of the problems is that it is unknown how many monitors there are in the U.S.

“We don’t know because of the sheer volume of equipment in hospitals. We speculate there are, conservatively, thousands of these monitors; this is a very critical vulnerability,” Riggi said, adding that Chinese access to the devices can pose strategic, technical, and supply chain risks.

In the short-term, the FDA advised medical systems and patients to make sure the devices are only running locally or to disable any remote monitoring; or if remote monitoring is the only option, to stop using the device if an alternative is available. The FDA said that to date it is not aware of any cybersecurity incidents, injuries, or deaths related to the vulnerability.

The American Hospital Association has also told its members that until a patch is available, hospitals should make sure the monitor no longer has access to the internet, and is segmented from the rest of the network.

Riggi said the while the Contec monitors are a prime example of what we don’t often consider among health care risk, it extends to a range of medical equipment produced overseas. Cash-strapped U.S. hospitals, he explained, often buy medical devices from China, a country with a history of installing destructive malware inside critical infrastructure in the U.S.  Low-cost equipment buys the Chinese potential access to a trove of American medical information that can be repurposed and aggregated for all sorts of purposes. Riggi says data is often transmitted to China with the stated purpose of monitoring a device’s performance, but little else is known about what happens to the data beyond that.

Riggi says individuals aren’t at acute medical risk as much as the information being collected and aggregated for repurposing and putting the larger medical system at risk. Still, he points out that, at least theoretically, it can’t be ruled out that prominent Americans with medical devices could be targeted for disruption.

“When we talk to hospitals,  CEOS are surprised, they had no idea about the dangers of these devices, so we are helping them understand.  The question for government is how to incentivize domestic production, away from overseas,”  Riggi said.

Chinese data collection on Americans
The Contec warning is similar at a general level to TikTok, DeepSeek, TP-Link routers, and other devices and technology from China that the U.S. government says are collecting data on Americans. “And that is all I need to hear in deciding whether to buy medical devices from China,” Riggi said.

Aras Nazarovas, an information security researcher at Cybernews, agrees that the CISA threat raises serious issues that need to be addressed.

“We have a lot to fear,” Nazarovas said. Medical devices, like the Contec CMS8000, often have access to highly sensitive patient data and are directly connected to life-saving functions. Nazarovas says that when the devices are poorly defended, they become easy prey for hackers who can manipulate the displayed data, alter vital settings, or disable the device completely.

“In some cases, these devices are so poorly protected that attackers can gain remote access and change how the device operates without the hospital or patients ever knowing,” Nazarovas said.

The consequences of the Contec vulnerability and vulnerabilities in an array of Chinese-made medical devices could easily be life-threatening. “Imagine a patient monitor that stops alerting doctors to a drop in a patient’s heart rate or sends incorrect readings, leading to a delayed or wrong diagnosis,” Nazarovas said. The Contec CMS8000, and Epsimed MN-120 (a different brand name for the same tech), “can be used as an entry point into the hospital’s network,” Nazarovas added.

More hospitals and clinics are paying attention. Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, does not use the Contec monitors but is always looking for risks. “Regular monitoring is critical as the risk of cybersecurity attacks on hospitals continue to increase,” says Erin Hardin, a spokeswoman for Bartlett.

However, regular monitoring may not be enough as long as devices are made with poor security.

Potentially making matters worse, Kaufman says, is that the Department of Government Efficiency is hollowing out departments in charge of safeguarding such devices. According to the Associated Press, many of the recent layoffs at the FDA are employees who review the safety of medical devices. However, on Monday, the government said it was reinstating workers who focus on medical device safety, among other tasks, and who had been let go.

Kaufman laments the likely lack of government supervision on what is already, he says, a loosely regulated industry. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report as of January 2022 indicated that 53% of connected medical devices and other Internet of Things devices in hospitals had known critical vulnerabilities. He says the problem has only gotten worse since then. “I’m not sure what is going to be left running these agencies,” Kaufman said.

“Medical device issues are widespread and have been known for some time now,” said Silas Cutler, principal security researcher at Censys, a cybersecurity firm with expertise in health care and government sectors. “The reality is that the consequences can be dire – and even deadly. While high-profile individuals are at heightened risk, the most impacted are going to be the hospital systems themselves, with cascading effects on everyday patients.” CNBC

The newly constructed six-storey building of the Government Hospital in Kolathur in Chennai built at a cost of ₹210 crore and awaiting inauguration, would be named after late social reformer ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy, the Tamil Nadu government said on Sunday.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin issued directions in this regard. He also inspected the new building during his visit to Periyar Nagar in his Kolathur Assembly constituency on Sunday. The hospital is to be inaugurated by him later this month.

Following its decision to upgrade the Government Peripheral Hospital in Periyar Nagar, the TN government laid the foundation stone in March 2023 for the construction of an additional building with three floors. Eventually, it decided to add three more floors to the building.

Mr. Stalin also visited the ‘Mudhalvar Padaippagam’, a coworking and learning space that he had inaugurated in November last year, and interacted with students there. The learning space was designed to benefit students preparing for national and State-level competitive examinations.

Ministers Ma. Subramanian, P.K. Sekarbabu and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi; Chennai Mayor R. Priya; MPs A. Raja and Kalanidhi Veeraswamy and senior officials accompanied the CM during his visit. The Hindu

The merger between Aster DM Healthcare and Blackstone-backed Quality Care India Limited (QCIL) is expected to reduce HR and procurement costs for the combined entity while eliminating resource duplication.

Anoop Moopen, the company’s director, stated that the merger would be completed within eight months.

“The merger is in the process of integration, and we expect to close it out in eight months to a year,” said Moopen. “It will take us to the top league, increasing our overall capacity to over 10,000 beds once completed.”

Aster DM Healthcare and QCIL merged in November through a share-swap deal, with 977 Aster shares allotted for every 1,000 QCIL shares.

Aster DM Healthcare shareholders are expected to own 57.3% of the merged entity, which will operate over 10,000 beds across 38 hospitals.

“We are focusing on optimising existing assets and ensuring synergies in procurement and talent,” Moopen added. “Once the merger is complete, we aim to eliminate resource duplication and reduce HR and procurement costs.”

Observers and analysts note that once the merged entity is listed, it will rank among the top three healthcare providers in India, or as Moopen put it, “in the big league.”

The merger will also strengthen Aster’s presence in Kerala, where the company is developing three hospital projects in Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod, and Kochi.

“Our 450-bed Thiruvananthapuram hospital will be commissioned within a year, while the 250-bed facility in Kasaragod will open in less than six months,” Moopen said. “We are also exploring other locations within Kerala to expand our presence.”

Aster’s market position in Kerala is set to grow further as KIMS Healthcare, which is part of the merged entity, will play a significant role in driving regional revenue.

Currently, Kerala contributes 55% to 60% of Aster’s total revenue, and this share is expected to rise post-merger.

The company is also considering expansion into cities like Bhubaneswar, Aurangabad, and Kolhapur.

“Our primary focus will remain on South India, as there is ample opportunity for growth in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka,” Moopen stated. “We have achieved a 25% CAGR and 30% EBITDA growth over the last five years, and the expanding insurance and healthcare market remains a strong tailwind for us.” CNBCTV18

India is one of the fastest-growing healthcare markets in the world, and the entry of more corporate players is a positive development, according to Viren Shetty, Executive Vice-Chairman of Narayana Health. However, while capital expenditure (capex) is important, it is also crucial to hire skilled doctors and train nurses to improve quality, he noted.

Shetty explained that as more hospitals are built, overall industry standards will rise. He also stated that large business groups entering the sector could help bring better organisation and attract more investment.

One key challenge, according to Shetty, is India’s reliance on imported medical equipment and consumables. “The larger the domestic healthcare industry grows, the more entrepreneurs come in and start becoming suppliers to Indian hospitals. So yes, I mean, long term, this is something that would only benefit the industry,” he said.

Shetty acknowledged concerns about rising healthcare costs due to increasing privatisation. He explained that different business models cater to various market segments—some focus on cost-efficient, affordable healthcare, while others provide premium services with high-end infrastructure.

He also shared his views on private equity (PE) investment in healthcare. “Private equity (PE), like any other fund, who is financing this industry is looking for the return of their money. It is just that the sources of capital are very different and the business model we build around that has to cater to that.” He added that a growing and competitive industry with investor interest will ultimately benefit consumers by offering more choices.

Ankit Thakker, CEO of Jupiter Life Line Hospitals, who also participated in the discussion, highlighted the need for strong ethical standards as more private equity and industrial houses enter the healthcare sector.

On the issue of affordability, he stressed that healthcare costs worldwide are beyond the reach of the average person without insurance. “Nowhere in the world, a quality healthcare cost is within the reach of an average person out of pocket. So, the aspiration for affordability has to be through the insurance procurement, and that is the way we need to look at it,” Thakker said.

Private equity and venture capital firms are increasingly betting on India’s healthcare sector. In 2024, PE/VC deals surged to 84 transactions, up from 62 last year, signalling strong investor confidence. However, the deal value has shifted—investments in hospitals and clinics have fallen sharply from $4.6 billion in 2023 to $1.2 billion this year. At the same time, funding in medical equipment and devices has increased nearly fivefold to $1.2 billion, reflecting a growing focus on technology and innovation.

Narayana Health has a market capitalisation of ₹30,422.17 crore, with its shares gaining around 7% in the past year and Jupiter Life Line Hospitals has a market capitalisation of ₹9,474.29 crore, but its shares have declined by nearly 2% over the past year. CNBCTV18

Mumbai-based diagnostic chain Metropolis Healthcare expects margin dilution in the next financial year ending March 2026 following its acquisition of Core Diagnostic. CEO Surendran Chemmenkotil said, “Core Diagnostic is relatively on a lower single-digit margin, so you can say 10% of the next year’s revenue coming at a much lower margin. Maybe there will be a little bit of margin dilution because of Core Diagnostic.

However, the company’s goal is to bring Core Diagnostic in line with Metropolis’ overall margin levels by the third year.

The company acquired Core Diagnostics to expand its oncology offerings and strengthen its position in India’s growing cancer testing market.

The acquisition is nearing completion and the integration process will begin soon. Core Diagnostics’ revenue will start reflecting in Metropolis group financials by the start of the next financial year.

In October–December 2024 (Q3FY25), Metropolis reported revenue of ₹322 crore, with margins at 22% and profit after tax at ₹31 crore.

“Year-to-date (YTD) quarter three we are done at 12.5% growth in our revenues and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) is around 24.5%. We expect the year to be ending in the similar trends as we have been trending in the YTD quarter three,” Chemmenkotil said.

He noted that the third quarter is typically a slow period for the company’s business, particularly in diagnostics and overall healthcare.

However, the fourth quarter tends to see a recovery, with increased activity in the wellness segment as people complete their health checkups before the year ends.

Metropolis Healthcare is also in the final stages of discussions with several potential acquisition targets, particularly in northern India. Once these deals are finalised, they are expected to further enhance growth in the coming year, building on the 12-13% increase already seen this year.

Overall growth for the company will come from a combination of the company’s existing organic expansion, revenue contributions from the Core Diagnostics acquisition, and any additional acquisitions that are completed.

Metropolis Healthcare’s current market capitalisation is ₹8,460 crore. Its shares have declined 2% over the last year. CNBCTV18

Public procurement portal GeM is aiming to onboard one lakh government-registered startups on its platform as it would provide a huge buyer base to these entities, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The Government e-marketplace (GeM) is also looking at doubling the number of women entrepreneurs on the portal and increasing their share percentage in overall procurement of the country from the current 3.78 per cent.

“With an ambitious goal of onboarding one lakh Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade registered startups onto the portal, GeM is determined to become a vibrant startup ecosystem in public procurement,” the commerce ministry said.

It added that GeM is intending to provide direct access for women entrepreneurs with government buyers, sans intermediaries, thereby ensuring better product prices, spurring hyper-local job creation and igniting inclusive growth. PTI