Cardiovascular Technology Institute run by CARE Foundation, Hyderabad will soon introduce India's first indigenous cath lab into the domestic market. The development of the first cath lab has reached advanced stages and is to be installed at CARE Hospitals within two months, it is learnt.

Informing this to Pharmabiz.com, Prof Arun K Tiwari, Head, Cardiovascular Technology Institute said that the indigenous cath lab would be costing 50% less than the imported ones. It would make use of all indigenous products, like catheters, canulae and sheaths. These cath labs could make coronary angiograms cheaper and can be conducted at Rs 3,000 as against the current price of Rs 7000 and above. The cath lab will also provide peripheral angiography solutions for the stroke and kidney patients.

There are eight technology units involved in making of a cath lab. These include, IITV, C-Arm, X-ray generator, X-ray tube, digital system, automated table, ECG monitor and pressure injector. The entire electronic system integration, software development and Table automation is indigenously done. It is known that the cath lab from the institute would be the first C-Arm DSA system in the world at 1024*1024*12 bit resolution.

The indigenous cath lab would be priced at Rs 50 lakhs as against the current market price of Rs one crore and above. Prof Tiwari said that there is an immediate need for 50 cath labs in the country. According to CARE assessment, there would be a demand for 200 cath labs in India within the next two years. The institute is also exploring export possibilities for the product, as SE Asia is expected to be in need of at least 500 cath labs by year 2005.

The Institute has been working on the development of cath lab for the last three years at various R&D laboratories in the country. The networking was made possible with the help of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former scientific advisor to the Prime Minister of India.

CARE Foundation feels that the new product should be made available in all district level hospitals in the country. Currently, there are about 250 cath labs in India. While most of them are located in big cities, there is a need for cath labs in about 40 cities and 1500 towns with secondary level healthcare infrastructure that can feed-in a cath lab. Institute sources pointed out that there are 240 cities and towns that are more than 300 kms away from a cath lab in India. In Bihar, Orissa and Northeastern states, this distance go up to 500 kms and about 15 crore people in these areas are denied access to cath procedures in their home cities.

The introduction of the indigenous cath lab is expected to be of extreme help to patients living in these areas of the country.