Toshiba said it has introduced a strategy that will highlight its healthcare business, placing it alongside the company's energy and storage businesses as a third main pillar of operations.
The strategy includes developing four business areas within healthcare: prevention, diagnosis and treatment, prognosis and nursing care, and health promotion. The plan aims to generate revenues from healthcare activities of $5.87 billion (600 billion yen) by 2015, Toshiba said on Tuesday.
Toshiba's diagnosis and treatment division is a well-established business that includes equipment such as CT systems. The new plan will develop activities in prevention, which includes reducing risk by monitoring and predicting individual health, as well as focus on prognosis and nursing care, in efforts to reduce burdens on patients and their caregivers, while helping individuals live at home longer. Finally, the company's health promotion segment will include the development of safer living environments and support for physical and mental health.
The new strategy will be promoted globally and will integrate diverse technologies to foster a society in which citizens live healthier, happier lives, Toshiba said.
The announcement follows an interview with Reuters last week in which Toshiba President Hisao Tanaka said Toshiba intends to spend "billions of dollars" on mergers and acquisitions in healthcare in the coming years, eventually growing the business to nearly $10 billion in sales by 2018. The company wants to become one of the top three medical imaging firms in the world; currently, it has an 11% market share, the article stated.
