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With the grand opening earlier this month of its $5
million, 50,000-square-foot headquarters in Doral, MD International
may very well lay claim to being the nation's largest independent
distributor of medical devices to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Al Merritt stands in front of his new MD International headquarters in
Doral.
MD International is the 13-year-old brainstorm of Al
Merritt, the chief executive officer and founder of the company, who
says that while traveling the area as a sales representative for
another firm he saw a need for a good, ethical company to bring
medical technology to Latin America "The big international
companies--Johnson & Johnson, 3M, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Phillips,
companies of that caliber--can afford to have their own offices in all
of those countries," said Merritt. "There was a need by the
smaller medical companies to have a conduit to bring their technology
down there."
Merritt, 40, started MD International in 1987 with a
staff of three and 600 square feet of office space in West Kendall, a
far cry from the spacious, ultra-modern facility he just built on the
edge of the Everglades at 11300 NW 41st Street. He's already moved the
company's operations and 80 employees into the new complex.
"We were spread out into six different areas and
the idea was to bring everything under one roof," Merritt
explained.
The new MD International building houses the company's
design and architectural department, technical services, the Internet
and communications section, warehousing for shipping and storing, and
the sales and marketing department.
The focus of the building is the product showroom,
where a state-of-the-art operating theater with equipment from all
over the world is the centerpiece.
Individual rooms flank a stainless steel reception
area, each housing the equipment to demonstrate the latest in medical
marvels for visiting physicians.
"A lot of our effort is to teach physicians and
distributors in Latin America about new medical technology, new
devices that cure disease, that diagnose diseases at an earlier
stage," said Merritt. "We teach the physicians how to use
the product and we teach their bio-medical engineers how to install
it, service it and maintain it. It doesn't do any good to buy a
beautiful piece of equipment like an operating theater if it's broken
in three months because it needs a fuse or because someone wasn't
trained how to operate it properly.
"Over the years, we've brought thousands of
physicians and technicians here to do training programs," he
continued. "That's why we built a training facility right into
the building."
Merritt--who resides in Pinecrest with his wife,
Patricia, and three children--says MD International not only sells and
distributes medical devices, but also consults on a client's needs. He
helps them plan and design a hospital, clinic or surgery facility,
then assists in arranging financing and works closely with a
contractor in the construction of the project.
"MD International brings medical technology
solutions to Latin America and the Caribbean," Merritt said.
"Those solutions are medical devices and delivery systems, such
as the design of hospitals and clinics, as well as the renovation of
those facilities, to provide better health care."
And that may be only the beginning for the ambitious
Merritt, who is seriously contemplating other markets.
"We are planning on expanding our services into
Africa and Eastern European countries," he revealed, "In
fact, we've already started some of those activities. The same
health-care solutions for a developing country in Latin America are
often appropriate for a developing country in Africa, Eastern Europe
or the Middle East."
For more information on MD International, please call
305 669 9003.
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