A company called Daktari creates special HIV blood scanners that are then used and distributed by a medical technology firm from the United States. Now, the company will be creating a new base in Scotland where these scanners will be built before being shipped to the US.
Based in the town of Inverness, the company will be employing over 100 people to help build the machines, as they have just announced that they will be creating 126 jobs at the new factory.
In addition to this, agencies of the Scottish Government will be contributing around £2.2 million to the £12 million project, that’s the equivalent of around £17,500 for every job that is created.
The Daktari scanners work by counting CD4 cells, as these are the host cells for HIV and they tend to deplete as the infection starts to spread. The scanners are designed to be used in harsh and remote areas.
Scotland was very proud to broker the deal with Daktari, as they fought off extremely tough competition from other countries who wanted to play host to the new factory, such as the US, Canada and Singapore.
Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, has stated his delight with the deal, which he helped to broker with a meeting at the Scottish open golf tournament.
Daktari is also expanding its factories in the US, some African companies and in Germany.