Doctor Michael Monsour gets grant to bring PeriCoach plant to Maryborough, creating hundreds of jobs

A Queensland doctor championing a smartphone-linked device, which can transform post-pregnancy pelvic floors without surgery, has sealed the deal for a job-rich factory in his home city as the former manufacturing heartland continues to make a comeback.

The company's chief operating officer, the woman Dr Michael Monsour describes as the brains behind the endeavour, Chelsea Cornelius said the PeriCoach was helping women beat stress urinary incontinence.Â

Trains, munitions and now, world-class medical devices.

The former Queensland manufacturing hub of Maryborough, which is experiencing a long-awaited resurgence, is set become home to a new $13.8 million factory offering up to 194 local jobs.

It comes after leading medical device manufacturer Analytica scored a grant through the Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland Industry Attraction Fund.

The Brisbane-based company, which has its roots in Maryborough, is best known for leading e-health device the PeriCoach, a pelvic floor repairing device targeted at the one-in-three women worldwide who suffer urinary incontinence after pregnancy or in older age.

The product comprises a device, web portal and smartphone app and access to the data can be given to treating GP’s and specialists so they can monitor the patient’s progress remotely.

Analytica’s Maryborough-based Doctor Michael Monsour and the company’s chief operating officer Chelsea Cornelius, who also grew up in the Heritage City and is described as the ‘brains behind’ the endeavour’, sat down with the Fraser Coast Chronicle in the wake of the announcement.

Dr Monsour said for too long, women had been sent home with sanitary products and left to deal with the issue or told to seek out expensive surgical or physiotherapy options.

The impact could be lifelong, leaving the patient isolated and unable to do everyday activities like playing tennis or going to a concert.

“Every time they sneeze or cough, they wet themselves,” he said

“Every time they lift two bags of groceries, they wet themselves.”

Ms Cornelius said the funding from the State Government meant the PeriCoach would be produced in a factory in Maryborough and exported across the world rather than being manufactured offshore.

She said for too long women had simply been dealing with the embarrassment and inconvenience of incontinence but the device helped rehabilitate pelvic floor muscles and alert them when they weren’t doing the exercises correctly.

Incontinence often left families with no choice but to have their elderly mother or grandmother placed in aged care when they were otherwise healthy, Dr Monsour said.

He believed the device, which was effective with use for just a few minutes five days a week over a period of eight weeks, would allow women to live at home longer and ease the strain on aged care housing.

“If we could run a program in Australia for post menopausal women to fix up this problem, then they would have a much better quality of life and the Federal Government would save billions on unnecessary nursing home costs,” he said

“It’s a win for everybody.”

Already the PeriCoach is being purchased for use in China and Middle Eastern countries.

The jobs that will be on offer at the factory were described as “well-paid, high tech” positions and the company is looking to secure a location within the next six months.

Member for Maryborough Bruce Saunders said Analytica’s decision to locate its manufacturing and call centre operations in the city would be an immense boost to the local economy.

“This is a great win for Maryborough and our local manufacturing sector as Analytica currently outsource manufacturing services to interstate companies.

“Almost 200 new jobs will be created locally over five years, with roles at the facility to include technicians and trades, sales, clerical and admin, machinery operators and labourers.”