08-Feb-16 Apollo Hospitals has short-listed three private equity firms and expects to close a deal to raise INR500 crore (USD73 mn) by March to fuel its expansion plans. While Apollo Diagnostics already has 15 labs and more than 80 patient care centres, it plans to launch 200 labs and 1,000 patient care centres over five years in tier 2 cities. [image: G Ramakrishna]

08-Feb-16 Medical device manufacturer Medtronic has confirmed plans to promote its products and expand its presence in the Mexican market. Medtronic operates six factories in the country, although its devices are not commercialised in Mexico as patients and professionals are not familiar with their usage, which is a challenge for the company. [image: Medtronic]

08-Feb-16 Years of under-funding and cost-cutting applied by successive governments have produced lengthening waiting times in Australia's public hospitals, including for potentially life-saving emergency care. Emergency department waiting times worsened in 2014–15, with only 68% of emergency department patients classified as “urgent” being seen within half an hour.

09-Feb-16 Australia has a supportive R&D environment and renowned academic institutions. The country outpaces the US in terms of medtech sales per capita: USD10.2 bn in 2012/13 for its 23 mn people, while US revenue was USD110 bn in 2015 for a population of 319 million. The top three therapeutic areas are cardiovascular, anesthesia, and musculoskeletal. [image: MD+DI]

05-Feb-16 The public health system run by Rio de Janeiro's state government reached breaking point at the end of 2015 after authorities admitted to a budget shortfall, which was blamed on a drop in oil revenue. But Rio's doctors' union, SinMed, and the state's Regional Medical Council also suggested that public funds had been misused. [image: Priscilla Moraes / Al Jazeera]