GE Healthcare’s efforts to address coronavirus

How we’re navigating a serious global challenge and supporting clinicians, patients and our employees

I recently shared an update on GE Healthcare’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19) and how we are supporting our customers, partners and patients. We continue to act with speed and purpose, leveraging GE’s scale to respond to the needs of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Our first priority is ensuring our employees are safe and healthy. We’re monitoring employee health daily in China, keeping a months-long supply of personal protective equipment for them and establishing travel measures where needed.  

Across our businesses, we are in constant communication with customers, suppliers and governments to prioritize business continuity to the best of our ability. I want to further highlight how we are responding to the urgent calls for medical equipment by prioritizing, installing and servicing healthcare technology where it is needed most. 

• Accelerating manufacturing: We’re coordinating with our 400 suppliers in China and making an unprecedented logistics push – delivering hundreds of tons of supplier parts and medical systems. 
• Committing extra time: Our more than 600 field engineers in China – including many in Hubei province – worked through the extended Chinese New Year to ensure medical equipment was installed and working efficiently. Globally, our Service team has also worked many extra hours to support customer needs, and I can’t thank these team members enough.
• Donating critical medical equipment: All ultrasound systems, patient monitors and other medical equipment that we committed to donating have arrived in Wuhan. In total, GE has donated $2.8M (RMB 20M) worth of resources and medical equipment to support China.  
• Meeting urgent calls for medical equipment: We are rapidly delivering around 1,000 pieces of technology, such as CTs, ultrasounds, monitors and ventilators.
• Innovating and researching: We developed the Noah Portable CT scanning solution for temporary hospitals in Wuhan to help caregivers quickly adopt CT technology to diagnose COVID-19. We also launched a Lung Intelligence Kit, a research platform with AI solutions for CT that can help play a role in better understanding the virus. 

I am deeply proud of the work the GE Healthcare team is doing to help address this global challenge. As our Chairman and CEO Larry Culp has said: “Enabling a better quality of life for people around the world is what has fueled GE for well over a century, especially in times of great change and uncertainty. It is at the core of our mission to be part of the solution, and we will continue to be.”