The Ekano concept envisions how surgical care can be transformed across the entire surgical care continuum

Cambridge Consultants have developed a new surgical system which seeks to provide low cost treatment to underserved patients. Known as the Ekano concept, it is aimed at laparoscopic surgeons in mid-tier and rural hospitals in countries such as India and China. Rahul Sathe, Head of Surgical Innovation, divulges more details about the product, its benefits in the Indian healthcare scenario and the strategy to market it in India, in an interview with Lakshmipriya Nair

How did the concept of EKANO evolve? How will it serve the Indian market? How different is the Indian market from other developed markets?

The surgical device industry is looking to emerging markets to drive significant growth and transform patient care, specifically developing tailored products for mid-tier markets. However, delivering new innovative projects requires a deep understanding of unmet needs of key stakeholders in surgical care, from patients and surgeons to nurses and hospital executives, as well as understanding challenges of infrastructure, work-flow, and equipment in hospitals and their operating theaters. Hence, our teams conducted ethnographic research in Indian hospitals to identify unmet needs and innovation opportunities, interviewing surgeons and hospital executives, and observing procedures in operating theatres. Focusing on unmet needs in laparoscopy, our team embarked on concept development, going from concept generation workshops in our Surgical Innovation Center (our own in-house operating room) to early prototype of the Ekano system in four months.

How will it enhance healthcare delivery, especially in the Indian context?

The Ekano concept envisions how surgical care can be transformed across the entire surgical care continuum. For example, its portability and low total cost of ownership allows surgeons to own the system and travel with it from hospital to hospital, thereby improving patient access to quality surgical care in rural areas. It also envisions using a Wi-Fi hotspot as a ‘localised electronic medical records’ system – this allows surgeons to send preoperative images (i.e CT or MRI) to the system and display them so the surgical team and nurses can plan their procedure as a team. Intraoperatively, we envision the system having good quality visualisation of tissue to enable surgeons to operate efficiently, and also use interchangeable tool tips to maximise functionality.

How do you plan to market it in India? How cost-effective would it be? Any tie-ups in the offing with other healthcare players?

We are currently exploring potential partnerships with multinational surgical device companies to see how we can help transform surgery in emerging markets. At low production volumes we think this concept could be roughly one-fourth of the cost compared with conventional laparoscopy systems, achieved by making product trade-offs based on unmet needs of surgeons, patients, and hospitals in India.

Are you developing any more such products, specifically for India?

Cambridge Consultants is a global company that develops breakthrough products and technology for clients worldwide. We are a development partner for the world’s top multinational companies, as well as early-stage dynamic start-up companies. As an example of our global footprint, we have been a development partner for Indian pharma companies, such as Sun Pharmaceuticals, helping to design, develop, and commercialise novel drug delivery devices. We are also scaling our activities in India, Singapore and Japan to expand our service to clients and markets in Asia.

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