Frontier Lifeline Hospital starts collaborative programme with Japanese hospital

EHM News Bureau

Dr K M Cherian with President Abdul Kalam

Chennai-based Frontier Lifeline Hospital is synonymous with the latest advancement in cardiology. It will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Division of Cardiac Surgery of Asahi General Hospital in Japan for mutual training of doctors, nurses and paramedics. The training programme, which would vary from six months to one year, will entail members of the 900-bed Asahi General Hospital to visit Frontier Lifeline and their unit in Kerala and vice versa. Frontier's unit in Kerala is the 120-bed St Gregorious Cardio Vascular Centre in Parumala village. Equipped with latest equipments, it conducts over 728 angiograms per day.

Dr K M Cherian, Chairman & CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, is upbeat about the collaboration. "While members of Asahi would gain in clinical experience from us, we would learn technological advancement in the field of biotechnology, nanotechnology, tissue engineering, stem cell therapy, tissue engineering, surgery etc from them," he said while speaking to Express Healthcare Management.

Why did they choose India? That is because India conducts at least 1,500 heart surgeries annually, in contrast with a meagre 100 in Japan. Unlike in India, an average Japanese's life expectancy is about 85 years. Elderly Japanese suffer from old-age problems such as aneurysm, atherosclerosis and coronary artery diseases. Also, with almost nil birth rate and preventive strategies for rheumatic fever, congenital heart diseases and rheumatic heart problems are unheard of in Japan. In India, although more than three lakh children are born with some form of congenital heart anomaly, only 4,000-5,000 children amongst them are treated.

Besides, international training would prevent nurses from going abroad. "Sixty per cent of them leave us for foreign countries. The MoU will provide a platform for these nurses to get trained in a foreign hospital during the time they wait for visas to other countries," said Dr Cherian. Dr Kazuhiko Higuchi, Director, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Asahi General Hospital, Japan said, "For the Japanese hospital too it is a beneficial arrangement since it faces a dearth of skilled, qualified nurses. Also, the hospital staff and doctors, who interact with Indian nurses, will learn to speak English."