“A life rescued from an overwhelming burden.” Dr. K. Sendhil Kumar, Chairman of Gateway Clinics, perfectly sums up a groundbreaking operation that has secured its place in medical annals. In a surgery that astonished specialists worldwide, the laparoscopic team at Gateway Clinics expertly removed a 33.5-kilogram ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma—confirmed as the largest ovarian tumor ever extracted through purely minimally invasive methods. The 42-year-old patient had suffered escalating abdominal swelling for more than eighteen months, along with critical breathing difficulties and complete loss of mobility due to the tumor’s massive size. The growth carried grave dangers, such as compressed blood vessels, shifted internal organs, and the ever-present risk of sudden rupture. Nevertheless, guided by Dr. Sendhil Kumar’s expertise, the team performed the procedure with extraordinary accuracy. Employing a strictly laparoscopic technique through only four small incisions and avoiding any shift to open surgery, the operation took four hours and forty-five minutes, with blood loss kept below two hundred milliliters.

“Operate today. Resume life tomorrow.” This bold commitment has anchored Gateway Clinics as India’s trailblazer in day-care surgery since 2003. In the last twenty-one years, over eighteen thousand patients have left the facility within twenty-four hours of intricate abdominal operations—a benchmark of speed and compassion now replicated nationwide. Routine same-day or next-morning discharges follow laparoscopic removal of the appendix or gallbladder, fully extraperitoneal inguinal hernia repairs, and stapled treatment of hemorrhoids. Appendicectomy patients typically spend only eighteen hours in recovery, report pain at a mild 2.1 out of 10, and return to work in three days; gallbladder patients stay twenty hours, register pain at 1.8, and resume normal activities within four days. Hernia and hemorrhoid cases mirror this rapid, low-pain recovery. The formula rests on cutting-edge anesthesia with propofol and dexmedetomidine, layered pain control featuring transversus abdominis plane blocks, and a firm no-drains, no-tubes rule that slashes infection risk while hastening movement. A serene recovery lounge overseen by ICU-seasoned nurses provides vigilant, comforting oversight.

“From basic 3-chip cameras to 4K 3D vision, progress has been relentless.” Gateway Clinics launched its laparoscopic era in 2001 with Coimbatore’s first minimally invasive gallbladder removal, igniting a heritage that now exceeds forty-five thousand such operations. That same year, high-definition laparoscopy arrived in the region, followed by the Harmonic Scalpel in 2008, indocyanine green fluorescence guidance in 2014, 4K 3D imaging in 2020, and robotic precision via the da Vinci Xi in 2023. Every advance has sharpened accuracy, curbed risks, and lifted recovery quality. In 2024 alone, the team handled one thousand two hundred gastrointestinal cancer cases, four hundred fifty weight-loss procedures, and two thousand eight hundred hernia corrections.

“Detect it. Address it. Restore health—all in one visit.” This guiding principle powers Gateway Clinics’ state-of-the-art endoscopy center, anchored by Japan’s premier imaging platform, the Olympus EVIS X1 Elite Processor. Equipped with texture and color enhancement, red dichromatic imaging, and narrow-band imaging capabilities, plus ultra-slim 190-series scopes ideal for both pediatric and advanced therapeutic use, the unit seamlessly combines diagnosis and intervention in a single session. A specialized endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography suite features digital cholangioscopy via the SpyGlass DS system, while the endoscopic submucosal dissection and mucosal resection area includes dual knives and traction tools for meticulous precision. In 2024, the team conducted eight thousand five hundred upper gastrointestinal endoscopies, six thousand two hundred colonoscopies, one thousand one hundred ERCPs, and six hundred fifty endoscopic ultrasounds.

“First surgeon from Tamil Nadu to lead India’s laparoscopic society.” In a historic milestone, Dr. K. Sendhil Kumar was unanimously elected President of the Society of Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of India for the 2025–2027 term. As the visionary founder and Chairman of Gateway Clinics, his leadership now extends nationally with a bold agenda to democratize advanced surgical care.Dr. Kumar declares, “Laparoscopy must reach the last mile. SELSI will bridge the urban-rural divide.”