RBCT Chapter 204 Market Feedback
Chapter 204 Market Feedback
Three weeks after the press conference, the first batch of ten patients all completed the implantation surgery.
The operating rooms at the five contracted hospitals were rearranged according to the standards of Room 402, and the surgical procedures were followed step by step as described in the white paper. Professor Zheng personally conducted the final equipment checks before each surgery, and Shen Yiming was responsible for postoperative signal calibration. Over the course of twenty days, they traveled back and forth between the five cities, performing an average of one surgery every two days.
Zuo Cheng is in Hangzhou, waiting for their news every day.
The first complete postoperative report came from Chengdu. The patient's name was Wang Fang, female, 47 years old, with a spinal cord injury three years prior. She had limited mobility in both upper limbs and was unable to eat. During the preoperative assessment, her right hand grip strength was less than 0.5 kilograms, and she couldn't even hold a spoon.
Signal calibration was completed on the third day after surgery.
Shen Yiming sent a video. In the video, Wang Fang was wearing exoskeleton gloves, with a bowl of porridge in front of her. Her right hand slowly reached out and grasped the spoon. The movement wasn't very smooth, and the strength in her fingers wasn't even, but she managed to pick up the spoon. Then she put the spoon into the bowl, scooped up a spoonful of porridge, and brought it to her mouth.
Someone is crying in the video. It's Wang Fang's daughter, standing outside the door, covering her mouth with her hand.
Zuo Cheng watched the video three times.
Seven days after surgery, Wang Fang's right hand grip strength reached 1.2 kilograms. She could hold a cup without the exoskeleton, although it still wobbled a little when she lifted it. She told Professor Zheng, "I haven't eaten a meal by myself for three years. Yesterday at noon, I held the bowl with my right hand and finished the whole bowl of porridge."
In his report, Professor Zheng wrote that the patient's recovery seven days after surgery exceeded expectations, with the upper limb motor function score improving from 12 points before surgery to 48 points, and the quality of life score improving by 300 percentage points.
The second report came from Hangzhou. The patient, He Yong, 32 years old, suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident two years ago, resulting in complete paralysis below the waist. Before the surgery, he needed family members to push him in a wheelchair; he could only move his neck and shoulders.
Two weeks after the surgery, he was able to push his wheelchair himself. It wasn't an electric wheelchair; it was a manual one.
He Yong wrote in his rehabilitation record: "Today I pushed myself from the ward to the end of the corridor, about fifty meters. My wife followed behind, without saying a word. When I turned to look at her, she was crying. I asked her why she was crying, and she said, 'I don't even remember the last time you walked on your own.'"
This statement was later posted on social media by He Yong's family and was forwarded 30,000 times overnight.
The third patient was Yang Jing, 26 years old, in the early stages of ALS. Before the surgery, she could no longer type with her fingers and could only use voice input. On the third day after the surgery, her right index finger could move independently. She used that finger to type three letters on the keyboard, the first letters of her daughter's name.
Her husband filmed the video and posted it online with the caption: "This gesture, which I haven't seen for three years, is back today."
The fourth patient, Huang Song, 53 years old, suffered from right-sided limb motor dysfunction due to the sequelae of a stroke. After a week of post-operative exoskeleton training, he was able to stand with assistance. His rehabilitation doctor said that given his condition, this progress was quite rapid.
These messages spread on social media much faster than the market expected.
Han Lu instructed the marketing department to monitor data related to the topic daily. A month after the press conference, the hashtag #InterstellarNeuron# had accumulated over 120 million views. The patient support group, spontaneously created by patients' families, quickly grew from 200 members at the press conference to over 2,000. Every day, people in the group shared their recovery progress, and others asked when they could schedule surgery.
Han Lu placed the data on Zuo Cheng's desk and said, "Our appointment list is already booked until March next year."
Zuo Cheng said, "How many people are waiting now?"
Han Lu said, "More than two thousand patients have submitted applications through the official channels of the five hospitals. Our monthly capacity is only twenty surgeries, so the remaining patients will have to wait a long time."
Zuo Cheng said, "What if we can't wait?"
Han Lu did not answer.
Zuo Cheng said, "Han Lu, we can't let people who are clearly eligible for this technology go back to a life where they can only lie down because they can't get in line."
Han Lu said, "But production capacity really can't keep up. Chip mass production takes time, and Ma Hao's exoskeleton assembly line is already operating on three shifts; we can't supply any more."
Zuo Cheng was silent for a moment. He said, "Call Ma Hao here."
The next afternoon, Ma Hao rushed from the factory to Hangzhou, bringing the latest production capacity data. Thirty NX-30 chips are produced per month, and twenty exoskeletons are produced per month. Currently, only Professor Zheng and Shen Yiming are capable of conducting surgical training, while each cooperating hospital needs at least two qualified neurosurgeons to perform surgery independently.
Ma Hao said, "To increase monthly production capacity from twenty to one hundred units, we need to expand three production lines. We'll need a second supplier for chip manufacturing, expand production facilities for exoskeleton assembly, and recruit at least six senior clinical engineers for the training team."
Zuo Cheng asked, "How much do you want?"
Ma Hao said, "If we estimate, the new production line plus the training team will require approximately 250 million yuan."
Zuo Cheng said, "Approved."
Ma Hao said, "But there's another problem. Even if production capacity increases, the hospitals can't keep up. Currently, each of the five contracted hospitals can only handle a maximum of five to eight surgeries per month. Beyond that, there aren't enough beds in the rehabilitation departments, and the number of doctors managing postoperative care is also insufficient."
Zuo Cheng said, "So what we need to do is not only expand production capacity, but also expand hospitals."
Han Lu said, "The number of hospitals we've signed contracts with is already expanding; we're in talks with eleven more in the second batch. But it takes at least three months for a hospital to go from signing the contract to being ready to perform surgeries. Qualification review, operating room renovations, and staff training—none of these can be rushed."
Zuo Cheng said, "We can afford to wait three months. The patients can't."
He said, "Here's the arrangement. Ma Hao, first expand the exoskeleton production line, with a target of fifty sets per month by the end of the year. We'll find Xingchen Technology as our second chip supplier; their NX-30 license to us can double the volume. Han Lu, prioritize the hospitals you've signed contracts with, putting those that can be deployed quickly first, and allocate training resources to them first."
Han Lu asked, "What about the price and medical insurance?"
Zuo Cheng said, "Let's keep the price unchanged for now. You continue pushing forward with the medical insurance negotiations; I'll find some time to go there."
When the meeting ended, Han Lu stayed behind. She said, "There's one more thing. Several overseas medical institutions have expressed their intention to cooperate—two from the US, one from Switzerland, and one from Japan. They want to introduce interstellar neural networks."
Zuo Cheng said, "Not now. Domestic patients are lining up; we need to focus on the domestic market first."
Han Lu said, "They asked for a very high price."
Zuo Cheng said, "I know. But the technology is our own. When and how we go overseas is up to us. Let's treat these patients in China first."
Han Lu nodded and walked out of the office.
Zuo Cheng stood by the window. In early summer in Hangzhou, the plane tree leaves were already quite thick. The building below was production workshop 402, and the lights were still on. Ma Hao's people should have already started planning the layout of the new production line.
Two thousand people are waiting.
Two thousand families are waiting.
These two figures are even more significant than the 500 million orders.