THE EFFECT OF E-COMMERCE ON INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL MEDICAL TRADE OF THE COUNTRY

With references to our experiences of obtaining the highly prestigious "International Scientist of the Years 2004,for outstanding contributions to medicine and surgery"and the "21st Century Award Of Outstanding Achievement in Medicine",from prestigious International bodies/organizations with the patronage and encouragement of the "Ministry of Heath and Medical Education,Iran",we became actively engaged in "Medical Devices Commerce" with internationally renowned "Medical Devices Manufacturing Industries/Companies",both locally and internationally as "Head of Marketing and Research Divisions/Departments" of these industries/companies,thus producing and marketing new innovations and technologies(High Tech),which were welcomed both locally and internationally,leading to the expansion of trade relations with customer countries.e.g. our research in New Surgical Techniques and Surgical Devices etc… were made available on the websites of our companies,leading to E-commerce and thus an international market.We will narrate our experiences of seven(7)years(1998- 2004) in the effect of E-Commerce on international and local trade of the country in this paper. It is quite long since E-Commerce established its place in trade and commerce all over the world,and now it has become the standard procedure in the field of health and medical devices commerce too.With my/our experiences for more than 7 years as "Marketing manager and Head of research departments" of local and internationally renowned medical devices industries,and also as administrator of hospitals and medical centres/wards,we adopted E-commerce in this field since many years and we will elaborate below our experiences and prove the extreme benefits of e-commerce in this arena of medical and health commerce,also compare E-commerce with the older routine commerce methods.Our prime method is/was to establish/have a web-site which would display the profile of our company,introducing the managerial staff alongwith their academic qualifications and experiences and their personal photographs,also we show pictures of our manufacturing plants/industries,international and local,on the site.After introducing all this information to our interested clients and customers and other interested parties,we display photographs of our newly marketed/researched medical products and then DVDs,videos etc.. of their practical use on our internet site e.g.if they are products used in surgery and the operation theatres we would display by DVDs,videos/movie from our web-site the complete procedure of the application during surgery where we are to use/using the newly marketed/researched products manufactured,thus giving our clients and customers the entire information they require instantly,whereas without web-sites and ecommerce, manufacturers of such newly marketed/researched products have to send medical representatives to customers,hospitals and doctors who would have to take appointments from them ,which is very time consuming and expensive for the industries,following which these medical representatives would have to go to hospitals and operation theatres/surgeries,where they would have to demonstrate practically in the operation theatres,the practical use of the newly marketed/researched medical devices on live patients,which may or may not satisfy the customers,as even a small mistake/error during the demonstrating surgical procedure would spoil and destroy the entire reputation of the manufacturing industries and the country,apart from the immense expenses incurred by these industries.After displaying the DVDs,videos/movies etc.on our web-site,we would inform the customers and interested parties of the international and local certification standards possessed by the devices/industries,e.g the "CE" mark,without which no medical devices manufacturing company/industry in the world can sell in the european markets,at the same time displaying the certificates,showing their validity thus giving the customers the complete satisfaction that they require,also the Iranian standard mark of the Institute of Standards and Industrial research,Iran,enabling them to make quick buying decisions.Other information e.g

کلیدواژه ها:

Medical ، Devices ، Industries ، Electronic ، Commerce