Carine Haddad, OKI’s Healthcare Manager for the MEIT region, talks to Middle East Health about the company’s latest DICOM medical printers.
OKI’s new Manager Healthcare for Middle East, India and Turkey
The Arab Health Exhibition and Congress 2020 at the Dubai World Trade Centre saw the participation of OKI Europe Ltd, a leading global company dedicated to creating cost-effective, professional inhouse printing solutions.
The company recently announced the appointment of Carine Haddad as Manager Healthcare for Middle East, India and Turkey (MEIT).
With more than 10 years’ experience in sales across the Middle East, Haddad’s exceptional background has helped her advance the reach of OKI’s DICOM medical printers in the Levant region during the past three years she has been with the company.
She is now poised to emulate her success in the broader MEIT region.
Middle East Health spoke to Haddad and discussed her new role and the Middle East market with regard to medical printers.
Middle East Health: Can you tell us about your new role, why you were appointed to this position and what will your work entail?
Carine Haddad: I’ve been in the printing industry for the last six years and in my previous job my focus was on healthcare. So, I am continuing this role, especially with the orientation of our company verticals. As an office printer company, we have a range of specialty products. I am handling DICOM embedded printers, designed specifically for the healthcare sector. We are dedicated to this segment of the market. Owing to my previous experience and the company’s focus on verticals, I am going to be looking after healthcare in Middle East, India and Turkey.
Middle East Health: Can you tell us about OKI’s medical printers and what sets them apart from the competition?
Carine Haddad: We are the only printer company which has DICOM embedded in the printer. DICOM is a healthcare industry protocol which enables it to communicate with other medical modalities, such as X-rays, MRI, and CT. In this way our printers can directly printout of X-ray, CT and MRI images. We don’t compare ourselves with other printer manufacturing companies, because we are the only ones that have DICOM embedded in our printers.
Middle East Health: What services does OKI supply to their customers with regards to maintenance, upgrades, supply of ink and other consumables, etc.?
Carine Haddad: We have partners for our office printer businesses, but for healthcare, we assign only medical dealers because they understand the healthcare environment. If you bring an office printer partner or distributor, they don’t have the same knowledge as a medical vendor. Our partners are medical vendors and they are distributors at the same time. They distribute to modality vendors like GE, Siemens or directly to hospitals. So, they act like a distributor, but regarding maintenance services and supply of consumables like ink, they receive support and training from us.
Middle East Health: How do you view the Middle East market with regard to medical printers?
Carine Haddad: It’s booming. Our biggest market share is in Egypt. We have established markets in Libya and Iraq. We launched in the Kingdom Saudi Arabia in September and are launching now in the UAE. We were late to the UAE because we were focussing on North Africa. We are now starting with GCC and it’s looking positive.
Middle East Health: Which countries in the Middle East do you think will be your key markets and from what type of healthcare facilities do you expect most of the demand to come from?
Carine Haddad: Each country is a key market, but from a different perspective. It can be a key market for DICOM or it may be a key market for ultrasound or other healthcare applications. Every country has its unique requirements. It all depends on each country’s needs and demands. We can fulfil the requirements of any clinic or hospital, because in all these facilities they have medical imaging equipment, and we can take care of all their printing needs.
Middle East Health: What challenges do you envisage?
Carine Haddad: Each company has its own unique challenges. For us it’s that many people in healthcare are not completely aware of the value of the printed output. They are most often completely focussed on digital. But the more you dig into the organisation, the more you see the need for physical, printed medical images.
