Kalam was happy to save lives with 'Kalam-Raju-Stent'

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam derived "immense satisfaction" from the development of the famed 'Kalam-Raju-Stent' for coronary heart disease since it was saving precious human lives, cardiologist B. Soma Raju recalled on Wednesday.

Popularly described as the 'Missile Man of India' for leading India's missile development programme, Kalam collaborated with Raju and his colleagues to design the 'K-R stent' in the 1990s.

"It was indigenous and was introduced in the market in 1994. It led to reduction in prices of imported coronary stents in India by more than 50 percent," Raju, founder of the Hyderabad-based Care Group of Hospitals, told IANS over phone.

The cardiologist, associated with Kalam since 1985, said the aeronautical scientist was "very attached" to the project and was a "guiding soul".

"He was immensely satisfied because he was happy he was saving lives since defence technology was generally related to war and killing people," said Raju.

For this effort, the Care Foundation received the Defence Technology Spin-off Award in 1998.

Now, the upgraded models of the stent are available in the market, said Raju.