PROFILE OF EARTH MEDICAL

HISTORY :

EARTH MEDICAL was started in 1990 by Richard Twyford with an opportunity to distribute a range of Infection Control/Instrument Care products in the RSA. (The RUHOF Corporation, USA ) After 2 years as a "one-man show" and proudly carrying the flag in the RSA for this outstanding range of instrument care products Richard was joined by Thomas Dunbar who later became Sales Director.

The RUHOF products are aimed at the confounding challenges of the "inside out" cleaning of Gastro-Endoscopy devices and Surgical Instruments generally
Today the products of the RUHOF Corporation are market leaders in South African Hospitals.

Infection Control/Instrument Care :

Over the next 4 years the Infection Control products remained the core-business with the addition of the MEDISAFE range of ultra-sonic washer products, including the "Sonic-Irrigator", an innovative answer to the problems of fine lumen cleaning of re-useable endoscopy accessories and instruments. The CASE MEDICAL range of gold-standard containerisation products completes the offering of solutions in the quest for cost containment and responsible infection control/instrument care standards. As missionaries of the "..if it's not clean it can't be sterile!" fundamental of instrument care, we have become a respected player in the sterile supply , gastro-endoscopy and infection control communities.

Previous experience and knowledge in the Orthopaedic Arthroscopy, Abdominal Surgery and Cardiovascular fields as well as a need to develop a "focussed diversity ", a decision was made to expand the business by looking for unique opportunities in these Surgical disciplines.

Orthopaedic :

The local distributor rights for a new British knee and shoulder Arthroscopy company (ATLANTECH now ARTHROCARE Sports Medicine, Harrogate, UK) were acquired, a product specialist was hired to champion this range, and today it forms a integral part of the business. The ARTHROCARE Opus/Autocuff System is used by more OrthopaedicSurgeons every month . By referral of a well-known South African surgeon we also became distributors for XIROS (Leeds, UK). With our attention on the same surgical community, we gained the South African business for SUMMIT MEDICAL (UK) ('Celltrans' Autlogous Blood Transfusion) as well as the DCS (Israel) state- of- the- art electronic Tourniquet device. All these companies fulfilled our need to work with companies for whom new product development and focus were essential. Today we have outstanding relations with all these principles. We have been successful in achieving market domination or significant penetration with all of these brands. In 2006 Earth Medical became the South African distributor for MEDACTA, a Swiss company specializing in innovations relating to Total Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery (AMIS).

Lower Abdominal :

Earth Medical, with a 5 year competency in the Urology / Women’s Health sector (having been the RSA agent for Boston Scientific since 2003), signed a 3 year contract for the RSA distribution of specialist Californian based "niche" company, Caldera Medical in February 2008. Caldera Medical was initiated in 2002 in the US and focuses on Female Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Floor reconstruction devices.

STRENGTHS :

Being a small company we have, and have demonstrated this, the ability to move and act quickly with the advantage of a disciplined flexibility. We have a passion that approximates obsession for listening to our customers, keeping our behaviour in tune with their needs and giving value in our interactions, from product through to information and service delivery. Our organisation and penetration is nation-wide with direct operatives in the major centres. The EARTH MEDICAL marketing effort is supported by a dedicated marketing services and administration team.

Our mission, jointly developed by all in EARTH MEDICAL, is included on this web-site and a look at this may give a better understanding of our internal principles and values.