Aussie firm wins hospital digital-imaging contract


11 Mar 2004

Australian medical devices developer Polartechnics has won a contract worth approximately AUS$500k (€300k) to provide six Irish hospitals with digital-imaging patient management system.

The company is in the final stages of installing its MediScan system in Dublin’s Adelaide and Meath Hospital, the National Maternity Hospital Holles St, the Rotunda, the Mater, the Coombe and in University College Hospital, Galway.

“MediScan is an image and clinical information system incorporating leading edge digital image capture technology,” explained Victor Skladnev, chief executive of Polartechnics. “It will streamline patient management in the gynaecology departments of each hospital in a number of ways, for example by integrating clinical data with hospital-wide patient administration and laboratory information systems.

“The system provides a clinical quality control system that reduces administrative error and stops patients slipping through the safety net of clinical care,” he said.

Polartechnics won the contracts through two separate competitive tenders, namely the Dublin Hospital colposcopy project and the Galway regional hospitals colposcopy project.

He added: “We were very keen to work within the Irish health system as we knew that the Irish Government recognised the importance of information and imaging technology to the health system, and in particular to improving women’s health.”

Skladnev claimed that MediScan would allow medical staff to make diagnoses much earlier than previously, a key consideration in effective health management.

The company has two other major products apart from MediScan – SolarScan, a skin cancer diagnostic system and TruScan, which screens for cervical cancer.

Established in 1987, Polartechnics Limited is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The company’s latest half-year results showed a turnover of AUS$1.2m and losses of AUS$2.9m for the second half of 2003.

The company has been expanding into Europe recently where its customers include hospitals and clinics in Barcelona, London, Milan and Paris.

By Brian Skelly

Pictured at the announcement of the contract win were Victor Skladnev, chief executive officer of Polartechnics Limited, Minister for Health and Children Micheál Martin TD and the Australian Ambassador in Ireland, The Hon Dr John Herron