NovoLase - Taking Indian Laser Technology to the World!

Lasers (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) are light sources composed of specific wavelengths that allow it to be focused into powerful beams, powerful enough that NASA used them to measure the distance between the Earth and Moon! In medicine and surgery, lasers allow doctors to precisely work on specific body tissues with pin-point accuracy, zero pain, minimal scarring and no swelling for the patient. Wonder why it’s not more widely used then? Well, so did Dr. Chandrashekar Murugesh Yavagal!

Dr. Chandrashekar, fondly referred to as Shekar, was born to Murugesh and Lata Yavagal, amidst a humble background, in the small town of Hubballi in Karnataka, India. As a child, he was aware of the financial struggles his family faced. While it was not all a bed of roses, Shekar was a student par excellence! He worked as a private tutor, assisted peers academically and even helped terminally ill patients with low cost, home-made dentures to pay off his college fees. Despite the struggles, Shekar went on to graduate at the top of his class, college and university with three Gold medals at the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course. He then went on complete his Masters (MDS) in Paediatric dentistry with a First Rank at the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India. He earned his Diploma in Orthodontics from the Orthodontic World Institute (OWI) in Barcelona, Spain. Today, he is a passionate teacher and strives to introduce nuances of cutting edge technology to his postgraduate students at the Department of Paediatric Dentistry, MMNGH Institute of Dental Sciences, Belgaum, India where he serves as Professor & Head. But his success story doesn’t stop at academia. With over 15 years of hands-on experience in the field of Paediatric dentistry now, Dr. Shekar has made a mark for himself as a researcher as well! He is an internationally acclaimed speaker and PhD researcher on Lasers, Paediatric, Preventive and Restorative Dentistry. He has been invited to speak, train and mentor doctors not just in India but in France, Germany, Spain, Singapore and Kuwait. He’s been affiliated in various capacities with international organisations focused on Laser therapy in Singapore (AALT) and Germany (COLLL). Most recently he has been elected to the Executive board of the coveted WALT (World Association of Laser/Photobiomodulation Therapy) as an SM Director for 2021-2024.

The Birth of NovoLase

Dr. Shekar began dabbling in lasers back in 2006 when the patient he was treating was just 40 days old! He ended up renting a laser unit at ₹350 per day, then roughly $8 a day. That experience led him to realise how painless the process of healing could be yet it wasn’t established enough because of non-affordability, leading to lack of knowledge and experience among his peers. He worked relentlessly towards making a dent in the Indian healthcare landscape—inspired by Ratan Tata who dreamt of every Indian owning a car. Albeit all dreams don’t get fulfilled but his did. That's how the seeds of a fully indigenous, Atmanirbhar ‘Made in India’ Laser unit bore fruit.

The intensely passionate and creative Shekar Yavagal went on to become the man behind India’s laser revolution and has now redefined the concept of Leveraging Technology for Healing in Modern Healthcare.. His brain child ‘NovoLASE’ Compact Pain therapy laser is testimony to this fact. His brilliant yet minimalist designs have garnered a global fan following and have managed to break the stereotype of ‘User-Unfriendly’ cable bundling laser units available in today’s generic market. NovoLase is now all set to shape the future of healthcare by becoming a catalyst in the paradigm shift from a pharmaceutical dominated era to a ‘Photo'ceutical era of Modern Healthcare.

Dr. Shekar ensures that the production and assembling of every NovoLASE unit is completely indigenous but yet meets international testing standards. As with most medical devices, each product and its manufacturing process have to be either certified with a statutory body or undergo a rigorous quality management system based protocol. NovoLASE does both! What started with an ISO 9001:2015, has now scaled to a CE certification conforming to European medical standards. ISO 13485/2016 certification, which is more specific to medical devices, has also been recently awarded to NovoLASE. Apart from this, NovoLASE also meets WHO - GMP (Good Manufacturing Process) guidelines related to quality of the manufacturing process and overall safety of the final product. No wonder it won the Award for the Health-Tech Innovation of 2020! With an array of checks and QMS protocols meeting international standards, NovoLase is now taking Indian Laser technology to the world! The fact that after India and Asia, its most recent installation happened in the African city of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) is testimony to this fact!

LaserVEDA!

As much as his struggles, Dr. Shekar has an intuitive feel for his patient’s pain and sufferings and constantly strives to find innovative yet affordable ways to end their miseries. His super-speciality chain of clinics cum training centres—LaserVEDA—have been advocating and implementing laser therapy to alleviate painless healing across various healthcare mediums including but not limited to dentistry, oncology, neurology, and physiotherapy. Over the past decade, they’ve successfully treated close to 10,000 patients and have in fact launched a state of the art online e-consultation portal to cater to patients during the Covid-induced lockdowns through 2020.

Dr. Shekar’s work does not merely reflect the dreams and aspirations of an average small town Indian dentist but embodies the challenges that the country’s millennial generation of healthcare providers face today. As he rightly puts it, POVERTY IS NOT A HANDICAP.. BUT A POOR MINDSET DEFINITELY IS!