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Learn how breast cancer can be repelled with Aarna Biomedical Products – A Social Healthcare Enterprise

Bangalore- Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women all over the world. Around 16,71,000 new cases being reported per year globally and almost India harbors around 9 % of this disease burden with 1,62,468 new cases being added to the list of existing patients every year (Globocan, 2012). Post-surgical rehabilitation of breast cancer patients after mastectomy (due to late detection) is an unmet need in many parts of the world.

Dr. Pawan Mehrotra is the founder and managing director of Aarna Biomedical Products – A Social Healthcare Enterprise. After five years of development and validation (endeavor initiated on 7 Feb 2014), he and his team have been able to deploy a single holistic platform aimed at delivering prosthetic needs of breast cancer patients following surgical intervention (modified radical mastectomy and radical mastectomy) by creating two solutions.

“Sampoorti” is an institution-centric product named Sampoorti which is a mobile and concise suitcase comprising prosthesis of different sizes and pocketed bras of different sizes with prosthesis covers, patient information forms, and information brochures. This allows for any hospital or NGO to provide a pre-trial to the patient in order to determine the prosthesis size and bra size which are most comfortable to the mastectomee. This also allows the patients to make a pre-informed choice before purchase. The larger vision behind Sampoorti is to allow hospitals to make the patients aware of breast prosthesis as a solution even before mastectomy is performed.

“Poorti” is a user-centric post-mastectomy kit that has been designed utilizing a product co-evolution strategy where each component of the kit has been developed with iterative feedback as per the aspirations of the end user leading to both technical and anthropometric betterment than the available alternatives together with a one-minute product self-use video thereby dispensing the need of any external help. The kit comprises of a superlative design based light-weight pre-made silicone gel breast prosthesis (available in ten different sizes & two shapes as per the needs of the user), two pocketed brassieres (available in eight different sizes & two colors as per the needs of the user), two prosthesis covers, one prosthesis holder, information & usage manual & an outer waterproof kit which accommodates all the aforementioned components discreetly. CE certified silicone gel imported from Germany is used in their prosthesis. Additionally, they also cater to the recurring needs of pocketed bras & prosthesis covers.

For the societal integration of their innovation, they have formed a social enterprise named Aarna Biomedical Products in March 2017 with the vision to offer high-quality affordable, and accessible solutions for unmet needs in healthcare. They have their own patented manufacturing process and in-house production set-up at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, India, and would be soon moving to a bigger set-up in Noida industrial area in Delhi-NCR. Poorti has received great appreciation from patients and surgeons, numerous recognitions, news and media coverage, and awards from various bodies. Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), an offshoot of the Department of Biotechnology and Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship – a social-entrepreneurship arm of Tata Trusts, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, Venture Center-Pune and lots of NGOs and hospitals have supported us till date.

Dr. Pawan Mehrotra and his team’s innovation has huge global prospects both for the government and private hospitals given the worldwide spread of breast cancer and huge disease burden. Currently, they are present in eighteen states in India and aspire to deploy Poorti in the rest of the states by the end of March 2022. In parallel, they are also exploring the market in the neighboring countries of India and South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Russia to begin with.

“SAMPOORTI-POORTI system” – An empathetic, holistic and affordable physical trial-based system for post-surgical prosthetic rehabilitation of mastectomees to help restore their confidence, dignity, and femininity.

For the best solution, you need to contact Dr. Pawan Mehrotra at [email protected].

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