10 YEARS OF MEDITECH SYSTEMS APAC!
This September, Meditech Systems celebrates 10 years in business — a whole decade of proving that the everyday essentials of medical consumables can still be done with care, quality, and innovation.
We’ve shown that even in the world of IV sets, masks, tubing, and monitoring accessories, there’s room to do things differently — and to do them better.
From our early days to now, these key milestones tell the Meditech APAC story:
WAREHOUSING + GROWTH
We moved into our first warehouse in 2015, quickly outgrew it, and expanded into a second… and then a third!
What can we say — growth takes space. We also set up a dedicated Vic/Tas warehouse to complement our 3PL partners in NSW and Brisbane, giving customers faster, more reliable supply wherever they are.
TEAM EXPANSION
Our sales team grew, with a Senior Account Manager joining to support Vic/Tas customers, while our WA customer support and warehouse crew doubled in size to keep pace with demand. Behind every product we deliver is a team of wonderful humans, all committed to quality service, reliability (and a bit of office fun) and we’re very proud of the team we’ve built.
RESILIENCE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
Through COVID and global geopolitical unrest, we kept shelves stocked and supply chains moving — no small feat when the rest of the world was scrambling! When logistics faltered, our customers knew they could count on us, and that’s something we’re genuinely proud of.
BUSINESS + PARTNERSHIPS
Tender wins, Preferred Supplier Agreements, and steady private sector growth have kept the business moving forward. We’ve also shown our commitment to day surgeries and small stand-alone hospital groups, making procurement simpler for them with our single-source supply model.
STANDARDS + ACCREDITATION
Our dedication to quality and reliability was officially recognised with the successful completion of ISO 9001 accreditation. But really, it just made official what our customers already knew: we take product quality management very seriously and have the processes to prove it.
GLOBAL SYSTEMS NETWORK
From the UK to China, Malaysia to North America, Turkey to Taiwan — our sourcing network keeps expanding. A bigger global footprint means a stronger, steadier local supply for our customers.
INNOVATION IN PRODUCTS
We’ve introduced key products that have genuinely shifted the game:
CICO Kits: Developed by our Clinical team in response to market need, we’ve sold 3,500+ kits since 2020, with the well-recognised kits becoming commonplace — and best practice — in facilities all over Australia.
New monitoring and EEG portfolios were added to the Meditech product lines, in a bid to provide facilities with a choice and save money without compromising on quality.
The FORTIVA — our TIVA IV set, including the new 4-port TIVA — was developed internally, raising the benchmark for TIVA delivery with enhanced flexibility, safety and patient comfort.
Scrub brushes — yes, we even expanded into Surgical Scrub brushes. There was a need, we responded.
Commitment. Quality. Innovation. Reliability. Service.
These aren’t just words to us — they’re how we’ve built Meditech APAC over the last decade, and how we’ll keep moving forward.
Ten years in, we’re proud of the milestones, grateful to our team and loyal customers, and ready for the next chapter. If the first decade was about growth and proving what’s possible in consumables, the next will be about pushing even further — more products, more partnerships, and more ways to make the essentials just that little bit better.
Here’s to the next 10 years.
CICO KIT Making an impact across Australia
After many years of seeing the Rapid-O2 device spread into hospital sites across Australia and then extensively Internationally, we saw a gap in how sites packaged their Can’t Intubate/Can’t Oxygenate (CICO) Kits.
This varied from Steri-peel packs to ‘home-made’ kits, to draws filled with difficult airway devices, and with different processes across Departments. This packaging was not often conducive to easy access to replenish or to see when products within these kits were due to expire, or even to see the products in the first place!
With the imminent launch of the Endotracheal Introducer PLUS (ETIP) available in a ‘bent’ version for easier storage, we set our sites on a point-of-care solution for a Full CICO Kit to fill this void.
In early June 2020, amid the global pandemic of Covid-19, and after a few tweaks and upgrades, our CICO Kit was finally launched into the Australian market.
Our first order for stock arrived almost immediately afterwards and was proudly displayed in the first theatres in a Hospital in Western Australia.
Since that time we have sold over 500 CICO Kits Nationally and continue to see strong interest across Australia, and also now Internationally.
We have seen several sites across NSW who have standardised to this Kit across the whole of their Hospital, purchasing 40+ Kits at a time, down to single theatre Day Surgeries, and even individual Anaesthetist purchases.
The design of the outer red shell and the inclusion of wall hooks, allows the Kit to be displayed within theatres and other care areas or can be mounted onto the side of airway trolleys for easy access in this type of emergency.
The unique design also allows for ‘personalisation’ of the kits for each Theatre/Department and can be sold ‘unfilled’ to allow for a dedicated Paediatric Kit to be made.
A FULL YEAR OF GROWTH
Meditech APAC completes it’s first full year trading as 100% Australian Owned.
We are pleased to have successfully completed our first calendar year of trading as a 100% Australian owned and operated company, and continue to see rapid growth in the Airway, Anaesthesia and related consumables market.
As we reflect on 2018, we realise how much we have achieved in this short space of time. We began the new phase of Australian ownership by investing in a strategic rebrand to inject new energy into the business and communicate our fresh approach to the market. The creation of our website followed, which has provided a rich and convenient resource for customers and a go-to hub for all of our product information and downloadable marketing material.
Seeking to improve on innovation, clinical design and research, we partnered with one of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) star Industrial Design graduates who is assisting us with product development and prototyping that could soon be redefining specific areas of clinical practice.
We have seen the successful expansion of many products within our portfolio such as our Beagle D-ring Braces, Non-sterile US gel and our anaesthesia circuit portfolio. We have also secured some BIG wins with Government contracts and with preferred supplier status with some major private hospital groups.
The business growth experienced in 2018 resulted in a move from our first warehouse into expanded premises (twice the size!) in November.
Also in late in 2018, we became the sole supplier of the Meditech Superior Laryngeal Mask range (Flexi and Standard) and assisted customers through a severe backorder shortage across Australia during the festive season. We look forward to this product range continuing to grow this year.
We will be offering our customers more choice as we expand our product range into 2019 with the planned release of several new additions to our portfolio. We have already released our Intravitreal Injection Kit into the market and have formed a strategic alliance with a customer in Queensland for the distribution of this product to the Day Surgery market. We will have new products in the Ultrasound Gel portfolio and will have a range of endotracheal tubes available from May 2019.
There are also some “special” projects we are working on that we hope to release sometime in 2019 - stay tuned!!
RAPID-o2 to the rescue!
Recently the Meditech Systems Ltd Rapid-O2™ oxygen insufflation device was put to the test by Consultant Anaesthetists and a Head and Neck Surgeon from Nepean Hospital, in NSW.
Their Case Report, believed to be the first of it’s kind, was recently published in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, an educational journal for anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine.
The product was successfully used in the rescue of a can’t intubate/can’t oxygenate (CICO) scenario, in a patient with severe airway haemorrhage post-debridement of laryngeal amyloidosis. Moreover, the report highlights the importance of a systems-oriented and human factors approach to CICO management, and seeks to increase awareness of the merits of the Rapid-O2™ in cannula-based CICO rescue techniques.
Some noted positive features of the Rapid-O2™ device include:
- Requires only one thumb for oxygen insufflation
- Allows for passive expiration when thumb port not occluded
- Intuitive and quick to set up
- Delivers a known and accurate flow (Wexler, et. al., 2018)
THE REBIRTH OF THE BERMAN INTUBATING AIRWAY
The Berman Intubating Airway has long been established as an essential tool for fibre-optic intubation, in a Difficult Intubation scenario.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists refer to the availability and usage of a range of sizes of Berman Intubating Airways in their 2012 Guidelines on Equipment to Manage a Difficult Airway During Anaesthesia, yet this vital piece of equipment has been unavailable in the ANZ market for nearly 4 years!
Vital Signs Inc used to manufacture the Berman Intubating Airway, but as a result of sale and ongoing business acquisitions over these past 6 years, the Berman Intubating Airway somehow fell through the cracks, and has been listed as unavailable in the market.
Meditech Systems APAC has rebirthed this simple but dynamic piece of equipment, with access to all the original sizes (8cm, 9cm, 10cm) to cover your facilities clinical requirements.
Does your Difficult Airway Trolley need a Berman Intubating Airway?
Rapid-O2 Gets a Warm Reception in the Coldest place on Earth!
We were recently contacted by the Polar Medicine Unit linked with the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Energy. They were preparing for the coming “season” down in Antarctica and were busy sourcing all the necessary medical equipment they would need whilst based in this remote region.
They had heard about the Rapid-O2 device and how it is fast becoming the “go-to” product for cannula driven oxygen insufflation during a CICO (Can’t Intubate, Can’t Oxygenate) scenario. While we hope all the Rapid-O2 devices we supplied them will return back to Australia, slightly chillier than when they left, we are proud to have supported this team and extended the reach of this product, literally to the end of the Earth!
