ISP Bangalore Bureau
He is a doctor par excellence but he is better known as an emerging entrepreneur. Dr. Srinivas Dorasala, co-founder of Cyclops Medtech is a name to reckon with when it comes to the league of people trying hard to make healthcare affordable in India. This ENT surgeon had a special interest towards vertigo and its allied problems. To find local solutions and devices for its healing became a passion for him. He focussed on innovative technologies diagnosing the cause of vertigo and dizziness.
Videonystagmography technology is used to test inner ear and central motor functions for finding the cause of vertigo in a patient. The process is called vestibular assessments and patients wear special goggles and their eye movements are traced as part of the diagnosis. Earlier the equipment used for Videonystagmography were foreign and they were imported in small numbers.
There were many problems with the situation. The equipment was expensive and the service and maintenance support were limited. Dr Srinivas and his team resolved to find a way out of it. They started to think about developing and building a home-made product that will help in diagnosing the cause of vertigo using eye tracking and at the same time bring down the cost of the equipment.
Darasala and his partners founded Cyclops Medtech. The first product of the team called Balance Eye was a landmark achievement. It brought down the cost of the procedures and made diagnosis of various neuro-vestibular conditions easy and affordable.
The innovation brought down the cost of the equipment from Rs. 20 Lakh to just Rs. 4.5 Lakh. Affordability of the device made diagnosis and treatment more spread out across India. Darasala’s company has installed hundreds of such equipment in different parts of the country. Apart from India, the innovation is also popular in Gulf and South-East Asian countries and the company is receiving demands from multiple new markets across the globe.
“Vertigo is a symptom and there is an underlying problem that causes it. Diagnosis is important and it was important to bring the best technology to India and make it affordable for everyone. That is an ongoing mission. We had some early successes and we are proud of it,” Dr. Srinivas Dorasala told ISP.
In terms of technological advancement in this field, India has a huge potential and talent. We have a long way to go and we need to create an enabling environment for innovation, he added.
Though, Dr. Srinivas has a special interest in vertigo and balance disorders, with expertise in videonystagmography. His surgical expertise includes the full range of Otolaryngological surgeries, from complex airway reconstruction to cochlear implantation.
Dr. Srinivas Darasala’s other area of passion is training and mentoring young doctors and professionals in the field. Today, he is a globally acclaimed trainer and a visiting faculty in various medical colleges. He yearns to inspire young minds to further take on from his cue to work towards making healthcare affordable to all.
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