Our distributor in Italy, Teleflex, is a global provider of medical technologies designed to improve the health and quality of people’s lives. As 2021 kicks off, Market Developer Sergio del Rosso reflects on what 2020 meant for Teleflex in Italy and what opportunities he sees in the year ahead.

“During 2020 we obviously had to change the way in which we worked. The lockdowns, which we had from March to June and then again from November through to now, together with the high numbers of people who needed hospitalisation for Covid-19, changed the way we could access hospitals and reduced the possibility of talking to healthcare professionals.

“We had to adapt to a different way of working. As human beings, each time we have to leave our comfort zone it is initially shocking, but in the long term we can learn things we wouldn’t have learnt otherwise. Covid-19 was and continues to be a hard challenge, but I believe we managed in a great way.”

“We took this time to create a new training programme for our sales team and other colleagues. We analysed our portfolio, comparing what we had to the competition to make sure we were letting everyone know about our products in the best possible way. We organised conference calls with private customers to reconnect with them and refresh their product knowledge. We also involved healthcare professionals in virtual training sessions on different procedures with the help of our clinical educators and our Clinical and Medical Affairs Department.”

“Surprisingly, the sale of products we were actively promoting – like the Aurum® range –  was high when compared to 2019. Given the dramatic situation we experienced in 2020, I believe this is an amazing result.”

“I would like to thank all the healthcare professionals for the hard work they have had to manage since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Italy they have been called ‘angels’ and ‘heroes’, and I truly believe they are. I would also like to give a little message of hope to people with stomas, in general, and to everyone who uses our products: vaccines are now available, it’s going to end soon, please stay safe.”

“Teleflex is Welland’s distributor in Italy, and has been for many years. We believe that the innovation of Welland in stoma care is unique and it matches perfectly with our mission and vision in the healthcare market.” – Sergio del Rosso, Market Developer Homecare, Teleflex – Italy