Kevin Lobo: Okay. Great. So firstly, on international, what we’re seeing is kind of the same dynamic we saw in the U.S. about 5 years to 6 years ago. We are installing a large number of robots and those tend to be leading indicators. And as you install those, then they start to do the procedures, and you see growth in the implants. So there where we were 5 years, 6 years ago, it’s really picking up in India, Japan, for sure, even parts of Europe are picking up. We already had strength in the U.K., but we’re picking up in other parts of Europe. China is still a bit small, but starting to pick up as well. Korea is on fire for us with Mako. We’re still a bit sluggish in Latin America. I’d say that’s still a big opportunity for us, and there are hospitals that are demanding it.
And we have to kind of we’ve made some changes in our own structure to really be able to address that opportunity. But overall, it’s target-rich. It’s later in the market cycle than it has been in the U.S. and in Australia. Even Canada is starting to really pick up, and that’s a very new dynamic. They were very, very late to the Mako story. And so we’re very excited, not just with the number of installations. You’ve seen multiple quarters of international really humming on installations. But that is a gift that will keep on giving. We’ve seen this in every market where you have large installations, it is a precursor for significant high-growth quarter-after-quarter. So very excited about the international opportunity. And it’s still early days in many of these markets.
So, so far so good. We’re excited in the reception frankly, the most important thing is utilization. And so as we make sure these robots are being installed, are they being used at a high rate. And frankly, today, the country with the highest utilization for robot is India, the highest in the world. But it’s picking up in other markets as well. The second part of your question was on Gauss. So yes, we’re really excited about Gauss. Obviously, this was an AI solution that we acquired to quantify hemoglobin for delivery as well as other general surgery procedures and they had sort of a different kind of interface for the health care worker. We’ve improved that interface to make it a lot easier to use and combine that with our surge account product — I’m sorry, the yes, search accounts, so the sponge accounting.
But this is so measuring the blood in the sponge and the canister, but also counting this fund just to make sure those funders are left in the body. There’s ideas that we have about how we can connect to this tablet and have other devices tied to the tablet. It’s a common tablet being used for both solutions, not ready yet to talk about what that will be. There’s a lot of other connectivity discussions going on inside Stryker, particularly with Vocera, that Vocera. Obviously, we have the bed now connected to the Vocera badges in that system and there are a lot of other discussions about what else can we connect with Vocera. It’s just a little premature for us to talk to you about what those are. I think I’d rather have those products ready for launch and then talk about it.
But clearly, we are looking at workflow and bringing better IT solutions for our customers, really looking at that across the portfolio, how can we improve workflow in the hospitals? How can you reduce errors for hospital acquired conditions? Safety and outcomes is a big focus of many of our MedSurg divisions. And I think we’re on a really good track. Did I ever think we buy an app on an iPhone, which is really what Gauss is? No, but that’s the future. And that’s going to be our focus. And Vocera obviously, was a bigger foray into the digital solution world, but don’t expect that this will be the end. And then, I continue within our deal pipeline, HIT is going to feature and don’t be surprised if we continue to do both organic innovation as well as acquisitions to bolster our presence within HIT.
Operator: There are no further questions. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Lobo for closing remarks.
Kevin Lobo: Thank you for joining our call. As you can see, 2024 is shaping up to be another strong year for Stryker. We look forward to sharing our Q2 results with you in July. Thank you.
