How 6 People Changed the Face of Robotic Surgery: A Michigan Ross School of Business Study Paved the Way For Indian Multispecialty Robotic Surgery

“Robotic surgery was a technology that was going nowhere in India.  I hoped to change that,” recalls Professor Mahendra Bhandari, a renowned Urologist and kidney transplant surgeon.  Dr. Bhandari was a student at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.  For his ExecMap Project in 2009, he proposed to create a business model for making expensive robotic surgery more affordable for Indian patients.  He needed classmate-volunteers to join his team for his plan to succeed.  The ambitious project recruited six members, led by Professor Andy Lawlor, who visited India and analyzed the data firsthand. 

From left to right: Rob Barrow, Hannah Hensel, Lynn Bishop, Mahendra Bhandari, Matt Campbell, Skip Kiil

The Ross India trip was a real “eye-opening experience,” according to team member Robert Barrow.  Barrow, now vice president at Wright & Filippis, a large Michigan-based healthcare and prosthetics firm, remembers, “To look at India, with maybe one or two robots that were really not being used, and to develop a true market penetration strategy…  If you look at where we started in 2009, to where you are today, the progress is unbelievable.”

Today in India, there are 28 robotic programs and 3,000 multispecialty procedures done per year.  “In just five years, thanks in part to the plan established by the ExecMap Project, not only has robotic surgery gained a rightful place in Indian hospitals, it has proven that India has the expertise to lead the world in developing new uses for this minimally invasive tool,” says Dr. Bhandari.  Medanta Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery is the pioneer in establishing robotic renal transplants with hypothermia in collaboration with Dr. Mani Menon and the Vattikuti Urology Institute in Detroit.  India is the only country in the world that has multispecialty robotic surgery programs and helps to make this form of surgery cost effective.  Today, the Vattikuti Foundation continues to support robotic surgery efforts in India, Europe, and in the United States.  

WATCH NOW: Rob Barrow's comments:

Read more here: http://vfrsi.vattikutifoundation.com/a-michigan-ross-school-of-business-study-paved-the-way-for-indian-multispecialty-robotic-surgery

Vattikuti Global Robotics 2015: Save the Date!

Robotic Surgeons Council - A HUGE SUCCESS!

Robotic surgeons of various specialities and hospitals at RSC 2013

The Vattikuti Foundation sponsored a meeting of the Robotic Surgeons Council at the Hotel ITC Maurya.  Over 60 top Indian robotic surgeons participated in a packed, daylong symposium.  Nearly 20 hospitals were represented, and each provided an update on the progress being made in growing the use of the da Vinci surgical system.  Ideas on data sharing, proctoring, training and collaboration were discussed.

Vattikuti Foundation CEO, Dr. Mahendra Bhandari, told the elite gathering that the “Vattikuti Foundation’s intention is to provide a commonplace forum for multi-specialties, multi-institutional activities, and this is purely academic…”

Raj Vattikuti, Foundation president and founder, addressed the group by video, stating that “Our main focus is the quality," and he spoke of how the Foundation’s leadership in Urology has expanded into other disciplines.  He continued to share ideas on how to achieve higher quality and his hopes for the Robotic Surgeons Council:  “We have a great opportunity for India in terms of building this program… Most [importantly], this is not from the Foundation; it is a group you can really help to mold this program in India, and can be the best in the world.”

Stay tuned for more information and video footage!

Upcoming Vattikuti Foundation Event!

The Vattikuti Foundation is proud to host their 2nd Robotic Surgeons Council in New Delhi, India on August 18, 2013.



Please stay tuned for footage and news regarding the event!

Vattikuti Invitational 2013

June 17, 2013 was the 12th year of the Vattikuti Invitational, a premier charity event that benefits the cancer programs at Henry Ford Health System and Beaumont Health System. The event celebrates and builds upon the extraordinary generosity of Raj and Padma Vattikuti, whose exceptional gifts to each institution are funding cancer education, treatment and research programs at Beaumont's Vattikuti Digital Breast Diagnostic Center and Henry Ford's Vattikuti Urology Institute. Over the past eleven years, the Invitational has netted over $4.2 million for cancer care.

The 2013 Vattikuti Invitational featured a round of golf at the world-class championship course of Oakland Hills Country Club, site of the 2004 Ryder Cup Matches, 2008 PGA Championship and the 2016 US Amateur. The day's activities also included a tee-off breakfast, lunch, cocktails, strolling dinner and entertainment.

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Asia's first Robotic Aortic Surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

Greetings from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.

It gives us immense pleasure to inform that for the first time in Asia, the Institute of Robotic Surgery @ Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi along with the Vascular Surgery Department performed Robotic Aortic Surgery successfully. The procedure was Aorto - Bifemoral Bypass for severe Aorto - iliac atherosclerotic disease. The entire aorto - graft anastomosis was performed laparoscopically with robotic assistance. We have performed 4 such procedures with successful outcome.

A high-definition video depicting the steps and the operative details of this procedure is available at the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7bVWCiv9Lk

This unique feat has been possible due to unconditional and total support of the management of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and blessings from colleagues like the Vattikuti Foundation. We take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for the same and look forward to your continued blessings and guidance.

In case of any query, please feel free to contact Dr. Arvind Kumar, Dr. Ajay Yadav, Dr. Belal Bin Asaf:
*Prof. Arvind Kumar                             Dr. Ajay Yadav                           *Dr. Belal Bin Asaf
(9810765405)                                         (9717183355)                               (9999965855)
arvindreena@gmail.com                          ajay.vascular@gmail.com                asafbelal@gmail.com

MBBS course may soon become of 6-year duration

Ghulam Nabi Azad, union health minister, recommended that the MBBS program be extended by one year.  However, many doctors in the Indian Medical Association (IMA) disagree with this recommendation.

The change would include a reducing the MBBS internship by 6 months and add a 1 year rural post.


What do you think?

Vattikuti Foundation Partner Uses Surgical Robot to Help African Child

Ashura Ibrahim, a 7-year-old girl from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania had been injured about two years ago in an accident on the road near her home.  Her bladder had been damaged and her only medical option there left her with a tube to drain her urine. Not only was this an embarrassing and difficult thing for a young girl to live with, it was also a health risk.

One year ago, the medical team at Apollo Hospital, Chennai took on the challenge. Pediatric Urologists examined her and Dr. V. Sripathi devised a surgery that used a flap of muscle from her bladder, which was transformed into a tube as a substitute for the urethra.  The drain tube was gone, and she returned home a happy girl.

Recently, Ashura was brought back for a routine checkup.  She was found to have a complication that caused urine to reverse flow back into her kidney.  Her condition was a concern because serious infection and renal damage could result.  More surgery was needed. Because he did not want to do a procedure that would again leave her with the dreaded tube to drain urine, Dr. Sripathi decided to use the daVinci robot to perform a “complex redo on the bladder base”.

The three-and-a half hour procedure was unique.  Dr. Sripathi called it a “first”.    He added, “Robotic surgery enabled us to achieve a perfect result in a very difficult situation with very minimal morbidity, with no pain and helped achieve (patient) discharge within a day.”
Ashura, according to media reports, is again completely happy and living a normal life, back home in Tanzania with her parents.  She will return next year for a follow-up visit.
A very satisfied Dr. Sripathi claims, “Robotic surgery will revolutionize the practice of surgery in children, especially in such complex situations, without resulting to large incisions and prolonged hospitalization.”

Dr. Mahendra Bhandari, C E O of the Vattikuti Foundation said,  “We are very pleased that the Foundation-facilitated establishment of a high powered robotic surgical program was used to help change the life of Ashura, a girl so much in need, so far from her home.  When used in the right hands, the surgical robot truly is a world-changing tool.”

Reports from The Hindu, The Times of India, Apollo Hospitals and the Vattikuti Foundation contributed to this article.   D. Meinhard

Raj Vattikuti - From the Heart

During an impromptu speech following dinner at the VGR 2012 Global Robotics conference, Raj Vattikuti, founder of the Vattikuti Foundation, shares his feelings about healthcare, technology, helping the poor and more.

Founded on April 26, 1997

The Vattikuti Foundation is a non-profit corporation that was founded by Raj and Padma Vattikuti in 1997. The Foundation serves both the local community in Southeast Michigan as well as causes in India and other parts of the world. Through the Vattikuti Foundation Raj and his wife Padma continue to lend their support to a number of worthwhile charitable causes. The Foundation has distinguished itself by founding the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Hospitals and the Vattikuti Digital Breast Diagnostic Center at Beaumont Hospitals. The Vattikuti Foundation is committed to making robotic surgery and other technologically advanced medical procedures of the future cost effective and available to underprivileged communities. Vattikuti Foundation also focuses on creating an infrastructure to coordinate and reach out to the people who are in poverty through the Poverty Alleviation Initiative program in India. Its initial pilot program has positively affected villages in the Tumkur District of Karnataka. The goal of this project is to reach over a million people over the next ten years.