By IANS,
Chennai : TTK Healthcare will set up a new plant near here to make orthopaedic implants and invest around Rs.20 crore to scale up the business, a company official said Friday.
“We have decided to set up a new plant at Mahindra World City to make orthopaedic implants like artificial knees as our current production facility is small. After knees, we plan to make hip and shoulder implants,” Group Vice Chairman T.T. Raghunathan told reporters here.
“Currently our capacity is 80 knees per month and we plan to grow that to 300 knees per month in 12 months. Our target is to take the capacity to 10,000 knees per year in a phased manner,” he added.
TTK Healthcare has entered into a technology agreement with US-based BP Trust to make the knee implants.
According to Raghunathan, around 40,000 knee implants are made in India per year and many people live with knee problems.
“Our knee implant price is around Rs.35,000 which is lower than what is available in the market,” he added.
According to BP Trust’s Frederick Buechel, there are six sizes available and surgeons would choose the one that would suit their patients.
Raghunathan said European or American made artificial knees are not suitable for Indians as they squat or sit cross legged whereas a BP Trust knee implant allows a person to perform these tasks.
Asked about the company’s artificial heart valve business, he said: “Last fiscal we sold around 10,000 valves and the revenue is around Rs.20 crore”.