Tribune Chandigarh

New Delhi, September 13
A private medical equipment company has come up with a new technique called cosmetic replacement of organs. This technique refers to the replacement of missing body parts with an artificial structure that looks as much like the natural part as possible. Amputated or missing fingers, toes, nose, ears and breasts can be treated with this technique.

Technomed (India) Pvt. Ltd., headed by Mr Deepak Sapra, has about 23 service centres in India, rendering their services to patients with burns and facing loss of limbs etc. The products include Technomed custom-made pressure garments, Tehlin lower limb systems, Grippon tubular pressure bandages, Technomed foot care products, Nagar silicon products and many more.

With the addition of a complete range of external prosthetics for replacement of missing body parts with an artificial part, the company is now in a position to provide complete solutions to those whose parts are missing and there’s no external functional device. “Using high quality silicone elastomers called Proskin1, we can create small prosthetics like nose, ear and partial foot for patients matching exact feature and colour,” says Mr Deepak Sapra. The material used added with pigments/colours in right proportions could match up to the patient’s skin tone. This prosthetics can be trimmed and finished with the help of scissors and grinding discs.

To make this prosthetics, the patient has to come to Technomed’s laboratory for fabrication and colour matching. Later, the part can be collected, which can be worn (in case of finger/s) or attached with a special adhesive (in case of a missing ear, nose or eye). Missing breasts, in case of women who had to go in for surgery, too can be replaced with specially created substitutes.

“Technomed is involved in the manufacturing and marketing of products related to burns, plastics, cosmetic surgery, orthopedic, prosthetics, rehabilitation and physiotherapy. Proskin1 is one of the latest materials available to meet the need of patient’s requirements with facial and other body defects,” Mr Deepak Sapra said.

Business Line
"Internet Edition"

Wednesday, Oct 09, 2002

From pressure garments to artificial limbs
P.T. Jyothi Datta

NEW DELHI, Oct. 8

IT was a personal experience that prompted Delhi-based Technomed (India) Pvt Ltd to venture into `pressure garments' for burns victims. Almost 17 years later, the company has evolved to make external silicon prosthesis or artificial limbs for various deformities and is set to establish a manufacturing unit in Chennai.

Mr Deepak Sapra, Director, Technomed, told Business Line that the company had an exclusive distribution tie-up with Taiwan-based Tehlin for hi-tech artificial limbs. Besides utility features such as the artificial hand or leg, the company also specialises in making other parts of the body like ears, fingers etc. "Accidents may result in people losing a finger or a ear. They can have an artificial finger made of the same colour and the deformity can be masked,'' he said.

The products are made of light-weight carbon-fibre and are imported at a steep customs-tariff of 40 per cent, which is then passed on to the patient.

He said that 17 years ago, a personal tragedy in the family made him import a pressure garment for the burn victim. Subsequently, he started his own company and imported the Spandex fabrics, which were then fitted in India in accordance with the requirements of the victim.

Besides burn victims, pressure garments are said to help set right deep dermal wounds, like scars of scalpel cuts, for example. It is also used in orthopaedics and vascular problems. In the UK, there was an on-going debate on whether people on long-haul flights should be made to wear specialised stockings, for health reasons, he pointed out.

Mr Sapra has requirement forms (where the patient will fill in his measurements and requirements) for pressure garments placed at the burn wards of various hospitals across the country. Patients can also access the company through its Web site, www.technomed.net.

Priced at Rs 700 for a knee-length stocking or Rs 2,400 for a full-body garment, the product is economically priced in India. A full body garment in the US would be priced at $ 90.

Technomed has started exporting pressure garments to South East Asian markets due to the price-advantage that it offers. The company has 33 distribution centres and its initial manufacturing unit is in Delhi. With a sales turnover of Rs 1.5 crore, the company expects to grow at 20 per cent, thanks to increased awareness on the product, he said.

HealthCare Management Express

Issue Dtd. 16th to 30th November 2002

By A Correspondent - New Delhi

From heavy iron rod limb to a microchip-programmed light, movable leg, technology has paved way for better quality of life even in prosthesis. But awareness is still at a low level on the range of products in the segment varying from artificial toes, fingers, nose, ears, and eyes, so flawlessly made that it is difficult to distinguish between the real and fake.

This creative mix of art and science is no doubt the area of expertise of very few. Technomed, a Delhi based organisation, amongst the first ones to bring the process of manufacturing silicon prosthesis to India in 1998 have been manufacturing external organs, artificial limbs and pressure garments for burns and injuries.

Silicone prostheses products are made of an elastomeric substance, Proskin 1, which is one of the latest materials available to meet the need of patients’ requirements. This elastomer is available in two component systems composed of a base and a catalytic agent. The base is available in clear form and adding intrinsic pigments or colours can stimulate a choice of all ethnic colours. The extrinsic pigments can also be used to create special colour effects in combination with silicone based adhesive. The components mixed thoroughly in the ratio of 10:1 are subjected to vulcanization by clamping either for three hours under pressure or for one hour at 150 degrees centigrade.

The uniqueness of the product lies in the fact that the prosthesis can be trimmed and finished by means of scissors and electric grinding discs. Retention is achieved by silicone adhesive or any other means suitable for the patient. The advantage of using silicon prosthesis is that it adapts and blends well with the skin surface.

"Normally a single finger would cost a patient Rs 8500. The rates otherwise range from Rs 8,000 to 20,000, depending upon the weight of the prosthesis.

This is strikingly low compared to the US rates of $2,400, as skilled labour is much cheaper here in India," explains Deepak Sapra, director, Technomed. The models are created out of a special kind of wax, using impression technique. Colour is applied taking the exact shades of the patient’s body type.