Interview with Ivana Holoubková, Head of Region Eastern Central Europe & Southeast Europe
This year we celebrate our 50-year journey! Since 1974, Aidian has been setting standards in point-of-care diagnostics. Aidian’s sales unit in Czech Republic started in 1992 when Ivana Holoubková, Head of Region Eastern Central Europe & Southeast Europe, established the business unit. She worked as a leader of the branch office for Czechoslovakia, and later, after the disintegration of the countries, leader for the business units in Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2008, her responsibility extended to businesses also in Hungary and Poland, and in 2020 to countries of Southeast Europe.
After over three decades with our company, Ivana shares her experiences and insights on how her work and the market have evolved over the years.
Ivana, after 32 years in the company, what kind of memories do you have from the first years working with us?
When I go back in my memories it is like going to another world which many of my young colleagues cannot imagine – namely the work without mobile phones and internet. The notebooks were with Windows 3.1. and presentations were made with transparent sheets and an overhead projector or with slides. Moreover, our region of newly liberated countries had permanent law changes all around businesses. But what I remember very strongly was trust and respect from the people I was cooperating with and it motivated me a lot.
The product portfolio I worked with and its quality was something which I was happy to represent. I was proud to offer products whose quality was very much appreciated. Some of them were unique e.g. ICTP as an unique signal of bone metastasis, soluble transferrin receptor and Pyloriset as first test for Helicobacter pylori at the market in the nineties. The most successful product in the nineties was nephelometer Turbox with a portfolio of 18 specific proteins on the board. The successful sales of Turbox kits, antisera, first generation of QuikRead products and Pyloriset in laboratories allowed us to switch our activities towards point-of-care testing (POCT) market even without having previous sales in primary care.
Is there any specific memorable customer story from the years that you could share with us?
There are a lot of individual customer stories, but I would like to point out the revolutionary change which has occurred in our primary care sector in Czechia. When we started in year 2000 the doctors could only do sedimentation of erythrocytes (FW) or used urine dip strips. All tests were allowed to be measured only in labs. There was no reimbursement for any of the point-of-care (POC) tests either. But Nordic countries were a very big inspiration for our doctors. They used the experience from negotiation at Norwegian Medical Chamber and with primary care doctors in Finland and Norway.
Finally, it was a long journey before the system accepted the interest of primary care doctors to start with C-reactive protein (CRP) POC testing. It was implemented after 8 years due to the challenges in the Czech health system. CRP was the first POC test to get reimbursement, and later there has been more tests. Implementing immunochemical and lately quantitative immunochemical tests into colorectal cancer screening in the Czech Republic has improved the situation with colorectal cancer. In recent years, we have seen a decrease in incidence and mortality.
What have you enjoyed the most in your work at Aidian?
The work for Aidian and with Aidianees is very interesting and motivating still after many years! We are happy that we can work in such an important sector. The influence of our work to reduce antibiotic resistance or in prevention of serious diseases can be crucial. Especially, if healthcare system in more countries start to reimburse CRP POCT or Strep A to motivate primary care doctors to test before prescribing of the antibiotics. Or if quantitative occult blood test is used in colorectal cancer screening or HbA1c in regular follow up testing of diabetic patients. The positive influence to the health of the populations is very inspiring.
Thank you Ivana for the interview! Your passion for your work continues to inspire us.
17-Dec-2024 Author / Kaisa Soirinsuo