Innocent Madonko in SHAOXING, China
A DELEGATION of senior health professionals from Zimbabwe today visited a massive Chinese health products manufacturer where it witnessed first-hand how artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest innovative technology are deployed to maximum effect in the healthcare industry.
The Fullcare Group, incorporating the Shaoxing Fuqing Health Products and Integral Medical Products, is a manufacturer of disposable hospital and healthcare products.
It has an automated factory which uses both humans and robots to churn out surgical sundries, catheters and tubing, and other consumables.
Fuqing Health Products was inaugurated in 1996 producing medical kits and packs.
In 2004, the company formed Integral Medical Products, a Sino-Australian joint venture with a product line that includes medical disposables that are widely applied in urology, anaesthesiology, respiratory and gastroenterology areas.
The company distributes its products in over 20 countries worldwide, mainly in the United States, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa, and has a turnover of US$42 million.
At its sprawling 1 billion Yuan (US$154 million) factory complete with an intelligent logistics department in Shaoxing — a picturesque city of more than six million people in Zhejiang Province — the Fullcare Group prides itself in continuous research and development, where it has deployed considerable sums of money to innovate and stay ahead of the market.
It has a big data centre with all equipment at the IT server room, which links all its intelligent production processes, supplied by Chinese tech giants Huawei.
The Intelligent Logistics Department is quite impressive with its array of robotic forklifts that transport pallets from the factory to the warehouse (which is also fully AI-controlled).
Addressing the Zimbabwean delegation, which comprises provincial medical directors, district medical officers, Government medical officers, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists and other healthcare specialists attending a two-week seminar on public health management here, Fullcare Group president Mr Michael Bofu Liu said as part of their company culture, they value professionalism, responsibility and rigorous attention to detail.
“We take public health very seriously and make every product with high standards. We respect our employees, train our team and encourage innovation. We also keep an open mind, learn from global partners and continuously improve our product quality and service,” he said.
Mr Liu said they adhere to the ISO13485 quality system and every step, including production, sterilisation, testing and logistics, is fully controlled and traceable.
“Fullcare Group has focused on medical and healthcare products for nearly 30 years. We started as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) factory. Now we have grown into a modern CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation) company with a strong research and development team, intelligent production and lean management,” he added.
“We have been working with some major international medical companies to develop new products, based on different market needs.”
In Africa, the company has a presence in Kenya and Malawi, but Mr Liu said they would consider doing business in Zimbabwe in future.
In response, head of the Zimbabwean medical team, Dr Celestino Dhege, who is also the Chief Director (Public Health Management) in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, said they were impressed with the highly sophisticated nature of operations at the plant and urged the company to invest in Zimbabwe through either setting up a factory or partnering with local companies.
“What we have seen here is something beautiful, complicated but progressive. I learnt something today. You know, in company structures we are aware of the CEO, CFO and COO but here there is a CIO (chief information officer), who, I was told, is very important at Fullcare and probably at other organisations as we move forward in the digital space,” he said.
“The Fullcare president said the CIO is probably more important than him because the network we saw is driven through information. For us it’s a learning point.”
The product line at the company, Dr Dhege said, was suited to the Zimbabwean market.
“The products that we saw here are products that can be produced in Zimbabwe. They are products that we consume on a daily basis in our hospitals and even in communities. One thing I liked about the way they approach their production … is to start first of all looking at households, then go into the community and then into the hospitals. We are currently talking of self-care and even produced self-care guidelines in Zimbabwe, so their products would fit into our self-care guidelines,” he said.
