Manipal Hospitals Reaches ‘Heart to Heart’, this World Heart Day

Much like one life, there is one heart that is all pervasive. Manipal Hospitals part of Manipal Health Enterprises took a vow of proffering people with this gift of ‘life’ by launching its ‘Heart to Heart campaign’ on the occasion of World Heart Day. The campaign was rolled-out in the presence of Special Guest – Shwetha Srivatsav (Sandalwood film actress), and Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, Medical Director & Chairman – Medical Advisory Board, Manipal Health Enterprises.

As a hospital that boasts of a strong lineage in heart care solutions, this drive by Manipal Hospitals aims to create awareness by educating people about preventive and curative solutions in heart care besides encouraging people with heart ailments to avail advanced heart care services at the right time.

Manipal Hospitals, Old Airport Road, is one of the largest and most modern cardiac care centers in Asia. Its dedicated heart care center - The Manipal Heart Institute is fully equipped with ECMO, inhaled nitric oxide delivery systems, cell savers for blood conservation, TEE (Transesophageal eco- cardiogram), homograft bank etc. With the success rates on par with the best hospitals in the world, the hospital now completing close to 20 years, offers the safest treatments for cardiac problems.

The apex of Medical excellence in Cardiac Care converges at Manipal Heart Institute which constitutes all-inclusive care of heart. The Patient Counseling Desk is a service that helps patients with myriad issues while on their journey through treatment. For the convenience of patients, the Institute has a wide choice for the ‘Accommodation’- that ranges from budget to premium. From the vagaries of services lie a dedicated travel desk team that will help in dealing with the options of travelling to and from your destination saving crucial time for the patients- and many such activities that adorn the facets of Manipal Hospitals.

Talking about this special venture, said Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, Medical Director & Chairman – Medical Advisory Board, Manipal Health Enterprises said “For us it is our job to save lives, but it is also imperative that we extend our responsibility to ensure that fewer people across the spectrum of the society are affected by cardiac issues. As a leader in Cardiac Care, Manipal Hospitals Bangalore has an extremely distinguished department of specialists across all disciplines from cardio thoracic surgery, vascular medicine, to radiology and anesthesia who work collaboratively to provide the highest quality of service to the patients. ”

“The hospital provides not only comprehensive heart care to patients of all age groups and all types across various spectrums like preventive and non-invasive heart care to the most complex procedures and surgeries, from taking care of infants just a few days old to handling patients over 90 years—our team of doctors have collectively performed surgeries and procedures on 50,000 patients till date,” said Dr. Devananda N S, Chairman, Cardiovascular & Thoracic surgery, Manipal Heart Institute (MHI) of Manipal Health Enterprises (MHE), HOD & Consultant–Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, Manipal Hospitals–Bangalore.

“It is my pleasure to be part of such a noble initiative take up my Manipal Hospitals. With the increasing work pressure and the drastic changes in our lifestyle, we are prone to cardiac diseases. The best form of preventive care starts from awareness, which such initiatives will bring upon,” said Shwetha Srivatsav
Popular Sandalwood Cine actress

The occasion was also marked with the announcement of a Skipathon on September 28 (Saturday), at Manipal Hospital, Old Airport Road between 4:00-6:00 pm, to end the campaign on a positive note that emphasizes the need of a healthy and happy heart. This drive will be taken across many schools and public institutions to instill awareness among children.  For registrations, please call 080 42461666

About Manipal Hospitals:
Manipal Health Enterprises (MHE) is a leading healthcare provider, delivering quality healthcare in India. It is part of the Manipal Education & Medical Group. MHE operates its healthcare network under the brand of “Manipal Hospitals”.

MHE manages an aggregate of 5,000 beds among 15 hospitals, over 11 locations across 5 states in India. The network of hospitals covers all levels of delivery from primary to quaternary care. It has, over the years, built a significant, committed clinical and healthcare skill pool of over 2,000 doctors and 6,000 nurses, paramedics and support staff, dedicated to its core values of “clinical excellence, patient centricity and ethical practices” and thereby, delivering the highest standards of healthcare to patients. MHE’s hospital network annually services 2 million patients in India and from abroad.

Second Innings, a part of the Organ Donation Campaign, launched to create awareness by Manipal Hospitals

In India, 140,000 people are involved in road accidents every year. Of these 67% suffer head injuries and possibly end up brain dead. i.e. almost 93000 people are brain dead every year. Each brain dead donor has the opportunity to affect the lives of 50 others. In India, the organ donation rate is 0.08 per million in a country of 1.3 billion people. i.e. less than 1 in a million Indians are Organ donors. Karnataka is one of the more active states for organ donation.

Second Innings is an Organ Donation drive, launching today. To mark the significance of this day, all leading partner hospitals assembled together to inaugurate and launch the campaign to spread awareness about organ donation, educating people on the idea and taking proactive steps to register and pledge to donate organs.

Second Innings has brought five leading hospitals such as Apollo Hospital, BGS Global, Columbia Asia Hospital, Fortis Hospital and Manipal Hospital, government organizations like ZCCK, FICCI and NGO’s such as Gift your Organ and Mohan foundation together on a common platform towards achieving a common goal, of spreading awareness for Organ Donation.

Transplants are one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine. But they depend entirely on the generosity of donors and their families who are willing to make this life saving gift to others. One donor can give life to several people and restore the sight of two more.  As a society we need to recognize that without organ donation there can be no transplantation. Indeed, when a family refuses to support a relative’s wish to donate or is unwilling to make the decision on his or her behalf, someone else will die. This strategy aims to provide the leadership, education and recognition that will make citizens proud to donate

There is a critical shortage of organs and the gap between the number of organs donated and the number of people waiting for a transplant is increasing. The need for donors has never been greater. With Second Innings, we aim to increase the number of donors and enable lives to be saved by encouraging people to pledge their organs, and leave someone a very beautiful future. A simple gesture can help save a lot of lives. So why not sign up to life now?

About Second Innings- Second Innings is an initiative as part of the Organ Donation drive, to create awareness and educate people to understand the importance and significance of pledging their organs. The Second Innings will urge people, along with their families, to donate their organs and help save lives even after they are long gone.  The initiative helps to understand that we have one life, and we should make it very useful and help people even after we are not around. It is a definite way to save lives of loved ones, ours and others. Second Innings aims to significantly increase contribution for Organ Donation

Second Innings, is an initiative, that aims to go all out to spread awareness amongst people of all ages. Collage activity, corporate drives, flash mobs, street plays, social media activities, hope stories by survivors are some of the activities to encourage participation and spread awareness about Organ Donations

ROBOTIC SURGICAL innovation at Manipal Hospitals

Manipal Hospitals, One of India’s leading healthcare group, has set a new benchmark in the field of healthcare by performing breakthrough Robotic Thyroid and Cancer surgeries for Thyroidectomy and Larynx Cancer. These medical breakthroughs, using robotic assistance, were performed by the doctors of the group’s flagship hospital at Bangalore—Dr. Somashekhar S P, HOD (Robotic Surgeon), Dr. Shabber S. Zaveri (Robotic Surgeon) both from the Department of Surgical Oncology and Dr. E.V Raman from the Department of ENT.

Robotic surgery is one of the most talked about subjects in the medical world today. A revolution in surgery, robot assisted surgery successfully overcomes the limitations of minimally invasive surgery and allows surgeons to operate with enhanced precision, negligible post-operative complications and, thereby, significantly contributes towards improving the quality of the patient’s life post-surgery.  This is the first time in India that Medical Robotics is being used for a Thyroidectomy as well as for operating Larynx Cancer. The most significant outcome of robot assisted thyroid surgery is the absence of any scar on the neck of the patient thereby preserving the aesthetics of the neck region, an important indicator of quality of life. Further, robot assisted surgery not only ensures greater precision but also takes care of low loss of blood, less pain, quicker patient recovery, shorter hospital stay and better quality of life post-surgery compared to conventional methods of doing thyroidectomy.

Usage of Robotics in medical surgeries enables high 15X magnification, 3D image with stability, the adoption of Endowrist technology (this technology interprets and refines the surgeon's hand movement into more precise movements and gives the surgeon natural hand-eye coordination) and the automated application of multiple robotic arms.

Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal, Medical Director, Manipal Hospitals, says, “At Manipal Hospitals, we keep abreast of the rapid developments in medical technology around the globe and incorporate those that help us provide the best standards of healthcare to our patients. Robot Assisted Surgery is a breakthrough technology which improves patient outcomes as well as enhances our surgeons’ skills. With enhanced precision and minimal loss of blood, patients are discharged within 2–3 days of their surgery, with no/negligible scarring in the operated area and also ensuring a better quality of life.”



Case 1: Robotic Thyroidectomy performed on a 20 year old, suffering from thyroid tumor



India’s first robot assisted Thyroidectomy was performed on a 20 year old girl, suffering from a thyroid tumor. She was discharged on the same day of the surgery with excellent cosmesis and functional outcome and had no scars on neck or face, and due care to the vocal box and parathyroid glands was ensured. With minimal blood loss, pain and discomfort, she was able to resume to normalcy and work within 3–4 days.

Thyroid surgeries are mostly conducted on females. Operating on the thyroid gland located in the neck requires an open surgery that results in having a long scar in that throat and neck. However, with Robot Assisted Thyroid Surgery, the thyroid gland can be operated without leaving any scar on the neck, without injuring the recurrent laryngeal nerve that helps in speech and small parathyroid glands that maintain calcium balance in the human body. Robot Assisted Thyroidectomy helps in precise dissection of the area to prevent injury to the vital structures and organs and provides potential benefits of a gasless, endoscopic transaxillary approach. The benefits include:

a. Excellent cosmetic outcome with no neck scars
b. Reduced likelihood of recurrent laryngeal nerve damage and hence, excellent voice
c. Less risk of parathyroid gland damage
d. Reduced likelihood of numbness in the anterior neck
e. Preserves quality of life

The surgery was jointly performed by a team of doctors from Manipal Hospitals Bangalore viz. Dr. Somashekhar and Dr Shabber Zaveri from the Department of Surgical Oncology amd Dr EV Raman from the Department of ENT.

Commenting about her breakthrough surgery, Ms. Kavya , who underwent the Robotic surgery for Thyroidectomy, said, “I am very grateful to Manipal Hospitals for the precision and expertise with which they performed this surgery on me. Being a young and unmarried professional, I found this robotic surgery to be very advantageous as it was scarless and ensured a shorter stay at the hospital and quick recovery period.”



Case 2: Transoral Robotic Surgery performed on a 66 year old man suffering from Larynx Cancer



Robotic Transoral Surgery (TORS) was successfully conducted on a 66 year old patient (male) who was suffering with cancer of the Base tongue and Pharynx Cancer. This patient, presented to the Manipal comprehensive Cancer Center at Manipal Hospital Bangalore required to undergo major surgery with jaw bone split and plating and tracheostomy (making an incision on the anterior part of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea) and long feeding tubes. Surgical access to areas such as inside the mouth, throat and neck is very minimal and causes cosmetic deformity, late recovery and delay in next phase of treatment. However, with TORS, the patient has the advantages of:

a. Avoiding disfiguring of jaw bones (mandibulectomy)
b. Avoiding Tracheostomy
c. Quicker Normal Speech and Swallowing
d. Significantly less pain
e. Less Blood Loss
f. Shorter Hospital Stay
g. Shorter recovery time
h. No scars on face
i. preserves quality of life



For the patient, the margins were all negative for malignancy and his recovery was very fast. He had no scars on his face or neck, no speech problems and no tracheostomy without any associated morbidity of swallowing.



According to Dr. Somashekhar.S.P, HOD, Department of Surgical Oncology, Manipal Hospital, “Robotic surgery will play a vital role in taking the healthcare industry to an all new level in future. Robotic technology not only addresses every aspect of the patient’s needs but also offers tremendous ease for surgeons.  In the case of the 20-year old girl, the performance of Thyroidectomy ensured a quick and scarless recovery for the patient and helped the surgeons perform the operation with utmost ease and precision. In the case of the elderly patient with Larynx Cancer, keeping his concerns of age and varied ailments in mind, the doctors performed a Robotic Transoral surgery (TORS) which proved to be very successful, with no side-effects, deformity or harm to any vital organs.”

About Manipal Hospitals:

Manipal Health Enterprises (MHE) is a leading healthcare provider, delivering quality healthcare in India. It is part of the Manipal Education & Medical Group. MHE operates its healthcare network under the brand of “Manipal Hospitals”.
MHE manages an aggregate of 4,400 beds among 15 hospitals, over 10 locations across 4 States in South India. The network of hospitals covers all levels of delivery from primary to secondary to tertiary to quaternary care. It has, over the years, built a significant, committed clinical and healthcare skill pool of over 1,500 doctors and 5,500 nurses, paramedics and support staff, dedicated to its core values of “clinical excellence, patient centricity and ethical practices” and thereby, delivering the highest standards of healthcare to patients. MHE’s hospital network annually services 1.75 million patients in India and from abroad.
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