Bengaluru, NFAPost: Dr Kiran Kanthi never thought his compassion towards other living beings will mature over a period of time and fuel him to tread entrepreneurial journey. He along with his two Biotechnology graduate sons Nisarg Kairan Kanti and Mayur Kiran Kanti formed Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd, a dedicated company for medical devices and Biotechnology products to find solutions for rural health requirement.
During his childhood, Dr Kiran Kanthi had indulged in hunting using airgun and once shot a little bird. The seen of little mother bird moved around the little bird really moved his heart. Since he decided to make up his mind to pursue the medical profession to become a doctor for saving the lives of human beings.
As he went on to become a doctor and eventually set up his own neonatal intensive care unit, Dr Kiran Kanti had one of the most eyeopening experiences.
Medical devices
“A little girl, who happened to be a precious baby was brought to us in a very painful and critical state. What was even more heart-aching was that the little baby would have suffered a lot less pain if she were treated a little earlier,” he said.
Due to lack of NICU set-up in many rural parts of the country, a multitude of neonates lose lives because of jaundice. This made Dr Keran Kanti take the responsibility of doing something about the prevalent scenario.
“That is when I started designing and prototyping a portable phototherapy unit that could be used anytime and anywhere with ease. It’s true that ‘necessity is the mother of all inventions’. This incident led to the birth of ‘Aura’ a cost-effective portable neonatal phototherapy device,” said Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd founder Dr Kiran Kanthi.
Working as an Anaesthesiologist & a General Medical Doctor, Dr Kiran Kanthi used to face many difficulties in using the medical devices and tools routinely. But due to lack of technical expertise and engineering knowledge almost all the Healthcare personnel’s keep using the Medical devices as they are and with lots of compromises.
Birth complication
“So, it all started when I decided to set up a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) with two Paediatricians, we used to encounter routinely, Neonatal Jaundice cases. The surprising thing observed was, we used to get regular cases of Newborn with a birth complication from the near-by hospitals in the urban town where our hospital was situated, but the concern was of cases coming from sub-urban and rural areas with complications of Untreated Neonatal Jaundice,” said Dr Kiran Kanthi.
Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd, the Hubballi headquartered dedicated startup company for medical devices and biotechnology products, began its journey in 2017 by working on a Neonatal Phototherapy Device and a Baby Warmer.
“The device had to be foremost to be efficient, user-friendly, totally portable, and very rugged owing to usage in rural and remote setups. I worked on certain designs, to be precise fifteen designs and made prototypes of almost around 9 models and then started working with team of engineers, and final design coming up with the help of Praveen, our design engineer,” said the founder of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd.
Phototherapy equipment
Thus the first product, a rugged portable neonatal phototherapy device of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd was born and it was named Lifetrons Aura. It is an efficient, user friendly, totally portable with less than two kilograms and came up with battery back-up. To make it more user friendly among Indian rural areas, Lifetrons Aura was able to be charged with solar power.
Dr Kiran Kanthi also narrated a unique incident in his life when his son asked whether a patient diagnosed with Criglier Najjer Syndrome (a rare condition, wherein the baby needs Phototherapy for lifetime) can be given with Phototherapy device?
“We were overwhelmed to donate an LIFETRONS AURA – Portable Neonatal Phototherapy Device from Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt. Ltd., to the parents of that baby. The gratitude and the joy of the parents made us feel grateful for the opportunity we got to serve for higher cause,” said Dr Kiran Kanthi.
The word ‘Lifetrons’, term coined by Sri Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda (Author of Autobiography of a Yogi), whom Dr Kiran considers as Guru, describes the “Prana”.
Co-Founder of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd already Nisarg Kairan Kanti, son of Dr Kran Kanti, said saving lives is the duty of the startup, and that too new born babies. Lifetrons signifies to be “subtle life force or finer-than-atomic energies”,” he said.
Manufacturing plant
The bootstrapped company has invested in Rs 1 crore in 2018 to set up its manufacturing plant where around 10 people are working. Co-Founder of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd already Nisarg Kairan Kanti said few of the components manufacturing are outsources and get assembled at their factory.
“We have taken money from relatives and friends to start the venture. We also received Rs 30 lakh from the Karnataka state government’s Elevate100 programme. We are getting queries on seed investment from various countries. But looking for partners who can help us expand our product portfolio,” said Co-Founder of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd already Nisarg Kairan Kanti.
The company is focusing to to improve the revenue as it registered around Rs 1 crore last year. “We expect our ambition to go international will expand our bottom line manifold. Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd already got few export orders from African countries and it is delayed due to Covid 19 pandemic,” said Co-Founder of Lifetrons Inno Equipments Pvt Ltd already Nisarg Kairan Kanti.
Aura:
Aura 1.0 is highly portable, light weight and space saving device, can be mounted bed side (mother & baby need not be separated), saline stand & warmer, reduces the risk of neonatal handling & nosocomial infections.
It has the wavelength of 457nm (IAP & WHO standard) with irradiance of 22w/m2/nm to 45w/m2/nm & reduces the need of double surface therapy
Aura 1.0 is having the advantages of being extremely compact and highly portable & lightweight (2 kg) with LED Light of 50000 effective working hours, being energy efficient of using only 20 watts of electricity. It has a highly flexible head with 3600 rotation, operates on power & battery backup for 2 hours. Startup product with global quality.
Steri-Lyse
A small briefcase sized UV sterilization unit to kill pathogens. Steri-lyse OPD Solutions is a portable sterilization unit that can be carried easily to anywhere. You can carry important and delicate medical equipment and even as delicate as papers to keep them clean and safe from dangerous viruses.
Bliss
A pinch of ‘bliss’ is all you need for a blissful tummy, mind, and heart.
