14-Jan-16 Philips has announced an agreement with the Sijunjung Regency in West Sumatra, Indonesia, for full-scale commercial implementation - Philips’ first globally - of its Mobile Obstetrics Monitoring (MOM) service. The smartphone service identifies mothers-to-be at high risk and enables midwives in remote locations to share data and ultrasound images with obstetricians in the country’s larger hospitals, for improved decision-making. [image: Philips]

14-Jan-16 India plans to roll out the red carpet for medical tourists with a series of initiatives being planned. These include online approval for medical visa, accreditation of hospitals and wellness institutions and establishing fixed charges for services. The tourism ministry plans to grade institutions, offer information on costs via a web portal, and accredited facilities to ensure quality. [image: IndiaLine]

13-Jan-16 The Abraaj Group, a leading investor in global growth markets, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Quality CARE India Limited, one of the largest multi-specialty healthcare providers in India. Headquartered in Hyderabad, CARE is the fifth largest healthcare provider in India, operating 2,600 beds across 16 hospitals in nine cities. [image: The Abraaj Group]

12-Jan-16 Samsung India and the Department of Health have signed an agreement to introduce the Samsung Smart Healthcare programme to Haryana. The initiative has been designed to provide government hospitals with state-of-the-art medical equipment with the aim of making affordable healthcare accessible to the large number of patients from Gurgaon and neighbouring localities, especially from the economically weaker sections. [image: Samsung]

07-Jan-16 With the addition of 25,000 hospital beds and a 5x increase in health budget, the health sector in West Bengal is on the verge of a turnaround. Sick newborn care units have increased to 45 from six, medicines have been made free for the poor, and a number of fair price diagnostic centres have been set up. [image: Hospital Directory Asia]