Looking to E. Germany: MAI Basic Four...

Looking to E. Germany: MAI Basic Four Inc., a major supplier of computer software to the West German health care industry, is looking to expand into East Germany. This week, MAI’s West German marketing arm is sponsoring a health care fair in West Berlin, hoping to lure some East German health-care officials and to “nurture a market in its cradle,” said spokesman Bernard Jubb.

MAI and other high-tech companies are becoming more interested in East Germany because of the political and economic changes taking place there.

Starting July 1, East German citizens will be able to exchange ostmarks, the East German currency, for West German deutsche marks as part of a plan to unify the economies of the two countries.

The Bonn government has said it will invest heavily in East Germany’s infrastructure to bring it up to West Germany’s standards. This means East German state-run health care and public works institutions will have access to millions of deutsche marks to purchase new equipments for transportation and management services and pollution control.

“Roads cut by the dividing wall are being joined and East Germany’s telecommunications system and postal service are in a mess,” said Paula Polizzi, international traffic manager at MAI Basic in Tustin. “Interesting enough, East German hospitals have been allocated money to spend for health care equipment.”