GE Healthcare Technologies president V. Raja in Bangalore on Tuesday. (PTI)

Bangalore, Aug. 30 (PTI): GE Healthcare Technologies is confident of doubling its annual revenues to $800 million in less than three years from its South Asian operations, a senior official said today.

GE Healthcare Technologies, South Asia, headquartered here, covers India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

President and CEO V. Raja said the company’s optimism stemmed from healthcare tourism, the government’s plan to double the spending on healthcare and the “disease pattern” that the company sees in India.

GE Healthcare Technologies is a $12-billion business of GE Healthcare that provides a broad portfolio of medical imaging, patient monitoring systems and other healthcare services.

GE Healthcare Technologies-South Asia comprises Wipro GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare and Datex Ohmeda India Pvt Ltd.

Though the Bangalore operations contribute some three percentage to the global revenues of GE Healthcare Technologies, its “true value is hidden” in the R&D activities carried out here, Raja said.

The company today rolled out a high-frequency x-ray system for the Indian market, which was designed and developed by engineers at its R&D unit, the John F Welch Technology Centre, here.

The laptop sized digital high frequency x-ray system boasts of better image quality and comes with an “affordable” price tag.

According to senior officials of GE Healthcare, the first product to roll out of the technology centre, is powered by a high frequency x-ray technology enabled by a state-of-the-art generator.

The HF Advantage, as the new system is called, is “designed in India, designed for India” value product, which combines the best technology with affordability.

The cost of a conventional x-ray system varies from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in India, but compromises on technology, quality and radiation dose, said Gopikrishnan, business manager, x-ray, GE Healthcare, South Asia.

Higher end fully digital x-ray systems cost between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore. As a result, they are not in use in India, Gopikrishnan said and added that GE HF Advantage was available for less than Rs 10 lakh.