The Hindu : Wockhardt becomes a training centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Wockhardt becomes a training centre

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore April 29. Gone are the days when you had to turn to the West for the latest in health care and surgery. The Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute here now has three cardiac surgeons from China training in "beating heart surgery".

The Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon, Vivek Jawali, who is sharing his skills with them, explains that this is a minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery where the patient's heart, except for the region being operated on, continues to function during the procedure. Wockhardt now routinely follows this method, he adds.

Dr. Jawali, who was the first in India to carry out a beating heart surgery five years ago, says recovery is faster, and the patient spent less time in the ICU. Another advanced method is "awake bypass surgery", where the patient is given a spinal injection but remains conscious throughout surgery. Wockhardt is among the few hospitals in the sub-continent to have tried this.

The hospital is now set to become a training destination for cardiac surgeons from Asia.

The three Chinese surgeons have been sponsored by their university hospitals, and others from overseas will get trained at Wockhardt. During the training period of six months, they will be exposed to more than 1,000 minimally invasive bypass surgeries.

One of the surgeons, Alex Kwok from Guandong, says: "We had the opportunity to get trained in the U.S. but chose Wockhardt because of its record of a large number of surgeries using this technique. The faster recovery time interested us because China and India have a similar economy, and shorter hospital stay helps.'' Medicare is entirely in government hands in that country. Youtao from Zanhou University Hospital, and Lieng Peng from Shenzen Hospital are with him in Bangalore.

"Over the past few years, the direction of coronary bypass surgery has changed and become very patient-friendly, and we are making the benefits reach more cardiac surgeons here and those from abroad,'' Dr. Jawali says. He will travel to Munich in Germany next month to train some surgeons there.

Vishal Bali, Vice-President, Wockhardt, says: With the launch of this international training programme, Wockhardt has positioned India as a centre of higher learning in cardiac surgery. We are not collecting any fees for the training; knowledge grows when it is shared.''

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