Thursday, January 20 2005 20:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Engineers at the India centre of General Electric Healthcare unit in Bangalore have begun designing a laptop-size ultrasound machine, which the global giant aims to roll out in three years for the world market.

"We are designing and building an ultrasound machine the size of a laptop here in India," GE Vice Chairman William Castell told reporters.

"Our aim is to make an ultrasound machine as ubiquitous as a stethoscope for every physician," Castell, President and CEO of $ 14 billion GE Healthcare said. The miniaturised ultrasound machine will cost less than $ 10,000 per unit with a rollout timeline of three years.

GE's India unit that has designed the Logic 100 black and white and Logic 300 colour ultrasound equipment is the sole supplier of these machines for GE's customers across the world with exports of 4,000 units from India last year.

"The miniaturisation effort is to make these machines affordable to every physician and this would drive volumes," Castell said, adding, several major components for the global health care business were being designed by the 2,200 people in its Indian operations.

GE Healthcare India earned revenues of $ 367 million in 2004, which included $ 240 million in exports.

GE has invested upwards of $ 100 million in its healthcare unit, which includes two joint ventures - Wipro GE Healthcare and GE BEL.