Partnership is the second with El Seif Development Group

JV solidifies GE presence in Saudi market as leader in "Early Health"

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, April 27, 2008: GE Healthcare, the US$17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), today announced the formation of a new joint venture GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia. The new company will drive the sale of GE Healthcare's products in Saudi Arabia, and has 51:49 per cent ownership by GE and El Seif Development, respectively.

GE Healthcare has been established in Saudi Arabia for more than 25 years and together with strategic partner El Seif Development Co. has been making the latest innovations available to healthcare providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - GE Healthcare's biggest customer in the Middle East. 

This new joint venture, GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia, is aligned with GE Healthcare's vision for the future of healthcare - "Early Health"; it is about moving healthcare delivery to pre-symptomatic and earlier disease detection. GE El Seif Healthcare Arabia will bring to market GE Healthcare's extensive portfolio ranging from innovative diagnostic and imaging equipment, patient monitoring and data systems to network storage systems and software for healthcare professionals across Saudi Arabia. It will also complement the earlier joint venture between GE and El Seif, GE El Seif Medical Services, demonstrating the commitment of both companies to transforming healthcare delivery in the Kingdom.

"GE believes in strong regional partnerships such as the one we have with our valued partner El Seif Development Co.," said Richard Di Benedetto, President and CEO of GE Healthcare, International - EAGM region. "Through this second exciting partnership with El Seif Development, we are moving further closer to our customers to address their specific needs by designing and developing innovative solutions that will be a true local fit."

He added: "GE Healthcare continues to play an integral role in transforming the healthcare landscape of the Middle East region. The idea of investing today to avoid ever-increasing costs in the future is a powerful and inspiring opportunity. If we can redirect healthcare resources into developing better ways to predict, diagnose, treat and monitor disease while leveraging information technology throughout this continuum, we could have a much healthier population overall."

With more than 180 talented and skilled professionals based in Saudi Arabia, GE Healthcare has a significant workforce dedicated to supporting Saudi's healthcare industry. The company has significantly invested in its strategic country service support center in Riyadh. This has led to an increase in the speed of customer response time, strongly supported by experienced local service & technical support teams.

GE Healthcare's advanced diagnostic tools enable earlier diagnosis, which can help decrease medical costs considerably while increasing the availability of a range of treatment options. Shifting resources to "Early Health" and developing technologies that allow healthcare providers to diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage, when there can be many treatment options, is better medicine. It also makes simple economic sense.

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About El Seif Development Group:
The health care sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken huge strides over the last few decades. We, at El Seif, are proud to have made a significant contribution to this development. El Seif Development was set-up in 1975 as an establishment, marking the entry of El Seif in health care. In 1983, the establishment was converted into as a limited liability company. It was about this time that the Company consolidated its position and laid the basis of a strong structure, in anticipation of what was to come.

Offering a whole range of products that cater to every specialty in a hospital, El Seif Development Group focuses on consultancy services and execution of turnkey health care projects. It represents major hospital equipment, systems manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. It has a number of joint ventures with European and U.S. companies in the medical field in Saudi Arabia. It has shareholdings in private hospitals, and its investments extend to the field of environment protection amongst others. The El Seif Development Group is a part of the larger El Seif Group that includes engineering and contracting divisions and companies specializing in the management and operation of hospitals. The El Seif Group ranks among the topmost companies of Saudi Arabia.

About GE Healthcare:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a US$17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

For further information, please contact:  
Nivine William / Adnan Abdel-Razzak
ASDA'A Public Relations
Exclusive Affiliate of Edelman PR Worldwide in Middle East and North Africa
Tel: (+971 4) 334 4550
Email: n.william@asdaa.com / a.razzak@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2008