{"id":860552,"date":"2026-05-15T14:54:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=860552"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:09:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:09:03","slug":"the-party-balloon-and-the-mri-scanner-have-more-in-common-than-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/860552\/the-party-balloon-and-the-mri-scanner-have-more-in-common-than-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"The party balloon and the MRI scanner have more in common than you think"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Marc Zora, Chief Executive Officer, Philips Middle East, T\u00fcrkiye &amp; Africa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Helium fills balloons. It also keeps most MRI scanners in the world running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That connection surprises most people, because helium has always been managed quietly, in the background. A scheduled refill here, a contingency plan there. The kind of operational reality you learn to manage rather than question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usa.philips.com\/healthcare?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=May2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click here for more info about Philips<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Dependency at scale<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A single conventional MRI system requires approximately 1,500 litres of helium to operate and needs replenishing throughout its lifetime. This adds up to 32% of total global helium consumption, more than any other industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most of MRI&#8217;s history, that dependency sat quietly beneath the surface, visible mainly to those who had lived through a quench; the rapid, unplanned discharge of a superconducting magnet, releasing a system&#8217;s entire helium supply in minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The direct financial cost of a quench, even before the recent period of helium price volatility, could reach approximately \u20ac100,000, while nearly 30% of facilities that experience a quench report that their MRI system is still not operational after three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three days, for a department managing a full patient schedule, is not an operational footnote. It is a gap in care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why now is the right moment to rethink this<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The structural pressures on helium supply have been building for years. Helium prices have risen steeply, driven by a fragile and geographically concentrated supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing demand from the semiconductor sector, fuelled in part by AI and quantum computing, is adding further pressure to a resource that was already constrained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are not short-term fluctuations. They are structural signals that make now the right moment for healthcare leaders to ask a question that has not always had a viable answer: does this dependency need to exist at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For healthcare systems in META, that question is particularly relevant. Longer refill lead times, more complex logistics, and the pressure of managing supply uncertainty in a high-demand environment mean that the financial, operational, and clinical burdens of helium dependency are no longer easy to absorb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The design response to helium dependency has followed two paths. The first is efficiency: reducing boil-off rates, extending refill intervals, and managing the exposure more carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second is more fundamental: designing systems so that dependence on helium is no longer a factor.&nbsp;Philips BlueSeal&nbsp;was developed along this second path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seven litres of liquid helium, less than 0.5% of the helium used in a conventional MRI system, are sealed permanently during production. Removing the need for refills simplifies siting, eliminates quench pipes, reduces installation complexity and long-term service risks, and shields MRI operations from supply fluctuations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over 2,222 installations now operate globally, from urban centres to remote settings where helium delivery is challenging. Together, those installations represent more than 6 million litres of helium that were never consumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What it means for healthcare and sustainability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For a radiology manager, the operational benefits are tangible: no refill scheduling, no contingency planning for supply delays, and no revenue loss from helium-related downtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the event of a minor incident, EasySwitch technology allows discharge and recharge without helium loss, with the system operational again within six hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a hospital CFO, it represents the permanent removal of an uncontrolled budget variable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a sustainability lead, it delivers a 99.5% reduction in helium consumption per system [4] &#8211; a material contribution to resource-stewardship commitments, with no offset required and no footnote needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most simply, for patients, it means continuity of care. And for those who run MRI services, fewer variables to manage and more time to focus on what matters most: delivering better care for more people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The question is no longer whether helium-free MRI is possible, but whether the systems we invest in today provide the resilience patients deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helium may still have its place in party balloons. In healthcare, we now have the opportunity to rely on it far, far less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Marc-Zora_Philips.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Marc-Zora_Philips.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-860559\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Marc-Zora_Philips.jpg 700w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Marc-Zora_Philips-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Marc Zora, Chief Executive Officer, Philips Middle East, T\u00fcrkiye &amp; Africa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Helium fills balloons. It also keeps most MRI scanners in the world running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":860555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[355],"class_list":["post-860552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-philips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860552"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860563,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860552\/revisions\/860563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}