New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI): If your heart is weak, a battery-operated surgically implanted pump can give you a new lease of life -- but the left ventricular assist device (LVAD) comes at a hefty USD 100,000, or almost Rs 95 lakh, unaffordable for all but the richest.
It is this kind of anomaly that Dr Anil K Lalwani, inaugural dean of the Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K), hopes to overcome.
One of the big projects of the medical school, set up in 2022 with the aim at driving technological innovations in medicine and healthcare, is developing indigenous solutions to problems that plague Indians, such as end-stage heart failure, he said.
For India to solve its health and healthcare challenges, citizens have to move away from the mental attitude of "we are adapters" of a solution to one of "we are originators", Lalwani told PTI.
The LVAD illustrates the issue perfectly.
The battery-operated, mechanical pump can be surgically implanted in a patient with end-stage heart failure. The device pumps blood from the left ventricle into the main artery, the aorta, from where it goes to the rest of the body via branch arteries.
"Unfortunately, this device, even though approved by the US' Food and Drug Administration, is available in the US at a cost in excess of USD 100,000. That's just not affordable on a large scale for a population of 1.48 billion people," the physician and innovator explained.
"We need to come (up) with an indigenous solution to this problem. Developing an Indian LVAD is one of the big projects at Gangwal medical school and an example of our goals of producing affordable technology in India." he said.
Asked if he sees solutions from the medical school going to the world, Lalwani said the approach has to undergo a fundamental change.
"I think we have to say we can do it. We will do it. We have to do it. Because we can't live with the world's solutions. Because they're not practical for us. That's the bottom line," he said on the sidelines of the recent 'IITK Samanvay 2026' event in Delhi.
Lalwani is a professor of otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) and mechanical engineering at Columbia University in the US. On April 20, he was appointed inaugural dean med-tech school that hopes to propel change through its medical postgraduate and trans-disciplinary research programmes.
The school complex, currently under construction, will also host a 500+ bed super-speciality hospital and a 50+ bed cancer care and research centre.
"I think the vision was take advantage of the strength (of IIT-K's strong presence in the engineering and tech space), and have it partner with the medical enterprise -- both the medical school and hospital -- so that there's synergy between the two," Lalwani said.
Solutions from India will also have the advantage of being cost-effective, thereby extending affordable healthcare around the world, he said.
In his view, the country's biggest health challenges -- and opportunities -- lie in maternal and neonatal health, and infectious and tropical diseases, which the rest of the world won't work upon as they do not share the problems.
Technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI), can help drive original pharmaceutical innovations in India, he said.
"The difference (with using AI) is we no longer have to have this incredible research infrastructure that every Western country had advantage in the past for drug discovery," Lalwani said.
"We can do in silica research to identify potential things of interest. That can drive our tech innovation. Original tech innovation, pharmaceutical innovation, drug discovery in India," he said.
'In silica research' refers to scientific analyses, modelling and simulations performed on a computer rather than on a living organism or in a physical lab.
AI can also help do away with tasks that required manual work in the past, which can be done more easily and much faster, the innovator said.
"I think there are so many different ways AI is going to be helpful. Your imagination is the only limitation. That's why I think humans won't be superfluous because the imagination is so important to ask the question that AI can help you with," he said.
"Eventually, the Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology initiative is about making sure that we have the ability, technology, tools, system and processes to provide equal access to health care -- no matter what your situation in life is," Lalwani said.
He added that in-person conversations are the most important.
Lalwani recounted how he collaborated with Jeffrey W Kysar, a mechanical engineer colleague at Columbia University, to develop a 3D printed microneedle, designed to allow clinicians to penetrate the inner ear's round window membrane without tearing it for collecting fluid samples and injecting treatments.
Sized about the diameter of a single strand of hair with an even sharper tip, the device is now undergoing clinical trials and being assessed for safety and feasibility in humans.
And it all started with a conversation in 2012 when Lalwani pointed out lack of knowledge on what caused hearing loss and inner ear problems and Kysar proposed ways to go about finding a solution.
"So I moved from New York University to Columbia University. And, that night we were having this conversation and wrote a grant together," Lalwani recalled.
While IIT-Kharagpur was the first IIT to start a medical school in 2001, IIT-Kanpur aims to establish a "one-of-a-kind" medical school "to bring about a paradigm shift in the approach towards medical care and innovation in the country", according to the institute's website.
(PTI)
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.