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Conversation highlights:
- Vivek Kanade Tailored Market Strategy: Managing 69 countries across the Middle East and Africa with direct operations in 7 key nations (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa) and partners elsewhere, adapting global strategy to local contexts.
- Elevating Health Focus: New 5-year global strategy targets NCDs (cardiac, stroke, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases), emphasizing prevention, early detection via screening, digital tools, and AI.
- Tech Innovations: Bringing remote scanning and an AI Companion for efficiency amid radiologist shortages, helium-free MRI magnets, and power-resilient equipment for African challenges.
- Value Partnerships and collaborations: Example of Rwanda's 5-year deal for equipment, training, digital integration, and optimizations.
- Advice to Youth: Prioritize patient impact over business metrics. Focus on accessibility and affordability in healthcare for successful outcomes.
EF: What is your approach to managing such diverse territories in the world, and how do you balance growth opportunities?
VK: Managing the Middle East and Africa zone requires a nuanced understanding of its profound diversity, spanning geopolitical, economic, and market maturity differences across nearly 70 countries. We maintain direct operations in seven key markets, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and South Africa, while partnering with established distributors to serve the rest.
Our strategy adapts Siemens Healthineers' global framework to local realities. Following our separation from the parent company, we pursued a structured evolution: the initial Upgrading phase from 2018 to 2021 strengthened our core diagnostics business, encompassing lab and imaging solutions. The subsequent New Ambition phase, concluded in 2025, expanded into therapy through acquisitions like Varian in 2021, integrating diagnostics and cancer care to unlock synergies.
Now, our new five-year Elevating Health Globally strategy scales these initiatives to drive measurable patient impact. We prioritize collaboration with governments, healthcare providers, and NGOs to amplify outcomes on a broader scale. Specifically, we target four noncommunicable diseases, cardiac conditions and stroke, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders, emphasizing prevention and early detection via screening programs, digital tools, and AI.
We know that NCDs account for around 77% of all deaths in low- and middle-income countries. With our focus on Africa, NCDs are estimated to account for almost 40% of deaths; therefore, early intervention reduces costs and improves accessibility, particularly where resources are limited. Amidst a dual burden of communicable and noncommunicable illnesses, in many parts of Africa, there are fewer than one to two radiologists per million people, creating significant diagnostic bottlenecks. To address these skill shortages, we deploy innovations like remote scanning through syngo virtual Cockpit, enabling expert technologists to operate CT and MRI systems from afar.
Additionally, AI-Rad Companion streamlines workflows by analyzing images, flagging anomalies, and preparing reports, allowing radiologists to handle more cases efficiently. These tools, combined with capacity-building via value partnerships, ensure sustainable impact. For instance, our five-year agreement with Rwanda's government supplies advanced equipment, integrates digital solutions, delivers training, and optimizes workflows to eliminate waiting lists and enhance citizen access.
Value partnerships, once an initiative under New Ambition, are now integral to our model, bridging equipment provision with long-term utilization to match developed market standards.
EF: How can you leverage your learnings in the past two years in your role to further elevate health across the rest of Africa and globally?
VK: Key insights from recent years underscore the need for bottom-up, locally tailored solutions over top-down global mandates, identifying unique pain points to intersect with our capabilities effectively. In markets where power outages can last several hours or where voltage fluctuations are common, equipment must be resilient to ensure reliable operation.
These challenges influence our product design from the outset. For example, our systems now accommodate wide power variability, preventing downtime in infrastructure-limited settings. A transformative innovation is our helium-free MRI magnets, requiring only 700 milliliters of helium with no replenishment or boil-off, eliminating complex supply chains and enabling deployment in remote areas.
This approach enhances sustainability and access, allowing MRI systems in underserved towns without the logistical burdens of traditional helium-dependent models. It extends to intuitive interfaces, AI integration for operational support, and local training programs, fostering self-sufficiency.
By embedding adaptations across design, installation, and maintenance, we not only drive business success but also advance equitable healthcare delivery worldwide.
EF: How do you define your approach to allocating resources across Africa, and how are you building the brand as you grow and create partnerships to elevate healthcare?
VK: Resource allocation in Africa hinges on deep cultural alignment and local insight, ensuring our global expertise addresses specific market needs. We invest significantly in training long-term partners, many spanning decades, including a 50-year collaboration in West Africa, to eliminate capability gaps and extend our reach as a unified entity.
These relationships provide a precise understanding of pain points, enabling tailored solutions. Beyond distributors, our value partnerships with governments in countries like Angola, South Africa, and Rwanda position us as collaborators in systemic advancement, modernizing infrastructure while building capacity for sustained impact.
We also engage in non-business entities, including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and disease-specific alliances, bundling portfolio elements to support initiatives like tuberculosis control. Through our Siemens Caring Hands program, we contribute philanthropically, such as donating diagnostic equipment to Egypt's Rafah border during regional conflicts to aid displaced individuals, prioritizing human impact over politics or profit.
Our multifaceted approach, blending cultural immersion, strategic alliances, and societal contributions, strengthens our brand as a committed partner in elevating healthcare accessibility and outcomes.
EF: What advice would you give to young people who are considering a career in healthcare and want to build skills in this sector?
VK: My advice to anyone entering healthcare would be to focus on the impact you can bring.
Focus foremost on the positive impact you can create for patients; business metrics will naturally follow. Regardless of your role, whether in project management, finance, or operations, every contribution enhances accessibility and affordability, two critical global challenges in healthcare.
By prioritizing patient outcomes, your efforts ripple outward, enabling better care even without direct interaction. This mindset has guided my 32-year career and remains essential for meaningful progress in the field.
