Exclusive: P-Flow has been an encouraging journey that has borne fruit at the end of a steep uphill journey. It all started when a family member had to undergo a urine flow test (uroflowmetry), a test done in a urological hospital. The test tells the urologist whether the kidney and urine flow passage of the patient are normal or not.
This helps to diagnose diseases like the prostate, stricture, urinary incontinence, repeated urinary tract infections, neurological problems, and others. The idea came up while filling an ice tray with water, and the idea was further developed during COVID times and implemented to measure fluid flow speed. This concept was later extrapolated for urine flow measurement.
In an interview, Dr. Ashish Rawandale said: I completed my MBBS from BJ Medical College Pune, my MS in General Surgery from the same college, my MCh in Urology from Bombay Hospital, and my DNB in Urology from AIIMS New Delhi. After passing out, I started a 20-bed urology setup in Dhule, Maharashtra, which is a rural area. Gradually, we increased the bed strength of this hospital to 110. We became a private limited company and then got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in due course. Tejnaksh now has centres in Kopar Khairane, and Uran.
As innovators, we have 18 patents applied for and five granted. 5 innovation awards by the Urological Society of India 2 Guinness World Records, 2 India, and 2 Asia in the Book of Records Have featured in Ripley’s Believe it or not. We are pioneers in surgical simulation for urology. Tejnaksh now has an innovative product division that manufactures surgical simulators for urology training. The simulators have been accepted and used by the Urological Society of India and the Arab School of Urology. We are also installed in countries like India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, to mention a few.
During innovation, among the many challenges, the most important ones are finding sound technical skills, a sound advisory body, and precision manufacturing companies.
Shark Tank has been an exciting journey right from the time we applied for it online on the Sony Live app. The various online and offline screening rounds were indeed a learning process. The finale was the five-day shoot at Yashraj Studios, where we nailed the final pitch for the first time in front of the sharks.
P-flow is a disposable urine flow measuring device. The advantage of the test is that It does not need a hospital setup, electricity, or trained personnel to operate the machine. The test can now be done at home in our comfort and at our convenience. The patient has to upload a photograph onto the online platform, and the report generated is delivered to the patient’s mobile phone. The patient then knows if his flow is normal or not and whether he needs to see a doctor. Thus, uroflowmetry is now a doorstep test that can be done by patients who cannot reach the hospital or are wheelchair-bound or bedridden.
The business turnover of the uroflowmetry division is around 1,000,000 a month at the moment and is gradually moving upward. The vision is to make P-flow a home-based device available in every house in India, just like blood sugar measuring devices and pregnancy tests. This will help diagnose problems with the urinary passage on time and save a lot of kidneys.
Interview taken by Soumyajit Dutta