Dublin-based Covidien will acquire Oridion Systems, a Jerusalem-based maker of respiratory and monitoring systems, in a deal valued at $346 million. Just two weeks ago, it said it was acquiring SuperDimension, another Israeli company that develops minimally invasive interventional pulmonology devices, in a deal that Covidien said was worth about $300 million.

Medical device companies have had a strong first quarter in terms of M&A activity and raising venture capital. Life sciences companies in the United States raised $1.96 billion in venture and private capital in the first quarter of 2012, up 22 percent from the same period last year. The increase was largely due to an upsurge in financings of medical device companies, which made up slightly more than a third, or $691 million, of total financings, and were up 63.4 percent from the first quarter of 2011.

Medical device companies also featured in two of the largest acquisitions of the quarter: Asahi Kasei’s $2.2 billion purchase of Zoll Medical to strengthen its presence in resuscitation and critical care devices used in emergency settings; and Boston Scientific’s acquisition of privately-held Cameron Health for $150 million upfront and up to another $1.2 billion based on the regulatory approval and sales of its novel wireless defibrillator that sits under the skin and doesn’t require threading wires through the veins and into the heart.

Covidien offers a variety of products and services, with a focus on patient monitoring and respiratory care devices. It is paying $23 per share in cash for Oridion Systems, which trades on the Swiss stock exchange. Oridion develops products that monitor adequacy of ventilation and provide an early indication of airway compromise to make patient care safer and easier, complementing Covidien’s offerings of pulse oximeters to non-invasively measure oxygenation of a patient’s blood and monitoring products.

The transaction is structured as a merger that has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by the end of the second quarter. Covidien does not expect it to have a material impact on its fiscal 2012 sales, operating margin, or earnings per share.

Two weeks before its deal to acquire Oridion, Covidien added to its medical devices division with the agreed to buy privately-held superDimension for approximately $300 million, with future earn out payments possible. Subject to regulatory approval, this transaction is also expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012.

With annual sales of approximately $30 million, SuperDimension’s iLogic System is an improved bronchoscope that provides minimally invasive access to lesions deep in the lungs, as well as mediastinal lymph nodes, thus facilitating more effective evaluation of lung lesions, and potentially enabling safer, more effective tissue biopsies.

“Covidien’s strategy is to invest in clinically and economically relevant products and technologies which can meaningfully improve patient outcomes while reducing the overall cost of care,” says Bryan Hanson, president of surgical solutions for Covidien.

These are only the two biggest deals in a busy quarter for the specialist in patient monitoring and respiratory care devices, which also included the purchase of the neurovascular guide catheters business of U.S. medical device company Reverse Medical, and the acquisition of privately-held Newport Medical Instruments, a maker of ventilators, for $108 million.

The Covidien deals and others in the medical device sector are being driven by the rise in the number of older people worldwide that will need such devices as they age in order to live as independently as possible.