Vattikuti Tech eyes $130 mn biz from robotic surgery systems

Betting big on the potential of using robots in surgeries, Vattikuti Technologies a distributor of high-end robotic systems is targeting up to USD 135 million worth business in India by 2020.
The company, promoted by US-based IT entrepreneur Raj Vattikuti, is the sole distributor of da Vinci robotic surgery systems manufactured by US-based Intuitive Surgical Inc and major healthcare chains such as Apollo, Fortis, Medanta, Max and Manipal are among its clients.
"We plan to install a total of 100 da Vinci robots in India by 2020 as the demand is quite high. We have already installed 32 robots in the country so far," Vattikuti told PTI.

When asked about the business value he said: "The goal is to sell around 15 to 20 robots every year which cost between USD 1.2 million and USD 2 million each."
In order to popularise robotic surgery systems, he said the company will train over 300 surgeons across the country by 2020.
There are 190 qualified surgeons in 30 hospitals across India using da Vinci robotic systems.

He said even government hospitals such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences and PGI Chandigarh have these surgical systems. Besides, trust hospitals such as Tata Memorial, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute are also using the system.

"We are looking at focusing on tier I and tier II cities. We are already present in metros and many big cities," Vattikuti said when asked about future area of expansion.
The company will be targeting government hospitals, corporate hospitals, hospitals run by trusts and even Municipal hospitals, he added.
The Vattikuti Foundation will be addressing three critical components -- surgeon training, geographic reach and complete packages, which benefit the economically weaker sections going forward, Vattikuti said.
"We will grow the pool of accomplished robotic surgeons to 500 besides motivating young surgeons to adopt robotic surgery. As its contribution, Vattikuti Foundation, will offer 100 paid fellowships to super specialist surgeons, over the next 5 years, to become robotic surgeons," he added.

Robotic surgery is preferred over conventional surgery, as it minimises blood loss and reduces post-operative recovery time, while bringing precision in executing the procedure, thus saving healthy tissue from damage.
In 2015, over 6,20,000 procedures were performed worldwide using over 3,600 da Vinci robotic surgical systems, Vattikuti Technologies said.