GE Healthcare, the $17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), on Thursday announced the formation of a new joint venture GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia. The new company will drive the sale of GE Healthcare's products in Saudi Arabia, and has 51:49 percent ownership by GE and El Seif Development, respectively. GE Healthcare has been established in Saudi Arabia for more than 25 years and together with strategic partner El Seif Development Co. has been making the latest innovations available to healthcare providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - GE Healthcare's biggest customer in the Middle East. This new joint venture, GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia, is aligned with GE Healthcare's vision for the future of healthcare - “Early Health”. It is about moving healthcare delivery to pre-symptomatic and earlier disease detection. GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia will bring to market GE Healthcare's extensive portfolio ranging from innovative diagnostic and imaging equipment, patient monitoring and data systems to network storage systems and software for healthcare professionals across Saudi Arabia. It will also complement the earlier joint venture between GE and El Seif, GE El Seif Medical Services, demonstrating the commitment of both companies to transforming healthcare delivery in the Kingdom. “GE believes in strong regional partnerships such as the one we have with our valued partner El Seif Development Co.,” said Richard Di Benedetto, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, International - EAGM region. “Through this second exciting partnership with El Seif Development, we are moving further closer to our customers to address their specific needs by designing and developing innovative solutions that will be a true local fit.” He added: “GE Healthcare continues to play an integral role in transforming the healthcare landscape of the Middle East region. The idea of investing today to avoid ever-increasing costs in the future is a powerful and inspiring opportunity. If we can redirect healthcare resources into developing better ways to predict, diagnose, treat and monitor disease while leveraging information technology throughout this continuum, we could have a much healthier population overall.” With more than 180 talented and skilled professionals based in Saudi Arabia, GE Healthcare has a significant workforce dedicated to supporting Saudi's healthcare industry. The company has significantly invested in its strategic country service support center in Riyadh. This has led to an increase in the speed of customer response time, strongly supported by experienced local service & technical support teams. __
