The product is the result of investments worth Rs 120 crore (USD 20 million) and the collaborative efforts of about 50 GE and Indian healthcare providers for over 4 years.

Mr Kaushik Mukherjee, IAS, chief secretary, Karnataka, and Dr Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, were also present at the launching ceremony, along with Mr John Flannery, president and CEO, GE Healthcare, and Ms Terri Bresenham, president & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia.

Dr Prathap stressed that the industry cannot keep importing devices. "Apart from expecting fast growth, we need to make and innovate in India at all levels," he emphasized.

Mr John Flannery spoke in terms of relevance of global healthcare systems in India. "Our sales in India are much higher than we imagined. We have products that bring incredible value to people," he commented.

The product is also expected to be launched in other markets, Mr Flannery said.

Revolution ACT will be GE's 26th product launch here in India, and the company, now, has been manufacturing products in the country for 20 years.

Till now all the CT machines in India were imported at exorbitant prices.

"The single biggest challenge is enabling a comfortable life for people who 'make in India'. It is easy to produce equipments and devices for people who can pay for it. The challenge is to produce and offer something for people at lower costs, rather than worrying about the exports," pointed Mr Mukherjee.

The product is said to be 40 percent cheaper than the existing machines and will consume less electricity.

"The newly launched CT system will be sold at less than a crore, depending on the configuration needs," added Ms Terri Bresenham, president & CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia.

GE Healthcare has recently formed a new national network - GenWorks Health, endeavouring to address severe healthcare challenges faced by Indian healthcare providers in tier II-IV towns.

GenWorks has commenced operations with 150 highly experienced team members.

The national network is building presence in 450 tier II-IV towns to take disruptive technologies, training and support closer to healthcare providers in a bid to give these first time users a high quality user experience.

"All initiatives to develop relevant technologies would be meaningless if they are not accessible to all, and hence we also invested and built a national network, which will help us take these technologies to the grass root level...," said Ms Terri.