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IITian shows how to make locally and sell globally
Oct. 9, 2004
For any IITian, working in MNCs for a handsome pay is
the safest and smartest bet. But V Sasi Kumar's
ingenuity was operating on a different plane. Heeding
his own intuition, he started Phoenix Medical Systems
Private Ltd. to make medical equipment for mother and
baby care. Today, in less than two decades, not only
hospitals in India and some Third World countries, but
also medical establishments in Switzerland and the US
have begun to import the Phoenix baby-warmers and
photo therapy units. The product has recently been
approved by the FDI. The company expects the same
response to its other products. At the local level,
many doctors and hospitals have been consulting Sasi
Kumar to set up comfortable ICUs, labour rooms and
other wards. ``I never thought I was going to make it.
It was not easy at all,'''' says Sasi Kumar. He
Phoenix project was inspired by his prototype baby
incubators he had made during his final-year in IIT.
±``Senior paediatricians were thrilled. They
encouraged me to pursue further research in the area.
Nevertheless, when I told my parents and relatives
about it, they thought I was crazy to reject offers
from world's best manufacturing companies,'''' recalls
Sasi Kumar. A determined Sasi Kumar was not ready to
leave anything to chance. He spent several days and
nights in different wards of hospitals to understand
the needs of a child, a doctor, paramedical staff and
attenders. He looked for drawbacks in the existing
products, the difficulties and the comforts they gave.
That was his first R&D work for the company. In 1993,
the company came out with an incubator with the
world's first oval-shaped single-mould bed. Most raw
material and spare parts, barring a few electronic
gadgets, were indigenous. Hospitals and many senior
paediatricians found the equipment at least 50 percent
cheaper than the imported ones. ``What's more
important was we signed annual maintenance contracts
with our customers. We were available round-the-clock
and the hospitals found our value-added services like
import of allied equipment attractive,'''' says Sasi
Kumar. At present, Pheonix's customers include
Governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh, Escorts (Delhi), Apollo Hospitals Group and
Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital. ``They did not
want an equipment with wires jutting out as it can
horrify the patient. Instead, they asked for one that
could be hidden inside cupboards. A family suite that
would double up as labour ward or a paediatric ICU
that is child-friendly and also a sterile zone.''''
Sasi Kumar is still aiming higher. He says his dream
is to be a part of the hospital planning team. ``We
will do it some day,'''' he says. Despite the success,
Sasi Kumar is rattled by the lack of legislation to
check the quality of medical equipment. ``A drug has
to go through several rounds of animal and clinical
trials. In contrast, even a tin box can be marketed as
an ECG machine and no authority questions the
manufacturer. In the absence of proper rules, we will
end up playing with more lives,'''' he regrets.
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