Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute has started an international training programme in 'Minimally Invasive Coronary Bypass Surgery' (MIBPS). The first training session is chaired by Dr Vivek Jawali, chief cardiovascular surgeon, Wockhardt and the hospital is set to become a training destination for cardiac surgeons in the Asian region.

Wockhardt plans to conduct these programmes right through the year and also organize teaching workshops, which is expected to become a knowledge exchange forum at Wockhardt that will help patients in India to get the benefits of the advancements in cardiac surgery.

The first batch of the six-month training has three cardiac surgeons representing university hospitals in China who have completed three months of the course and the remaining sessions will provide them exposure to over 1000 minimally invasive coronary bypass surgeries performed by visiting cardiac surgeons. The three candidates: Dr Alex Kwok, Dr Youtao and Dr Lieng Peng are on scholarships from their universities/ teaching hospitals. The international training was started after Dr Jawali's visit China recently, where the students approached him and applied to the Wockhardt Heart Institute to give us this opportunity to have a first hand exposure the cardiac surgical skill.

The trend worldwide is to make heart surgery more patient-friendly, said Dr Jawali, who is the pioneer of Minimally Invasive Coronary Bypass surgery in the Australasia region. "We are making India a teaching destination in cardiac surgery and leading heart surgeons are scheduled visit Wockhardt to help hone skills in surgery."

"India is acclaimed for its medical talent worldwide. With this international training programme, Wockhardt has positioned India as a centre of higher learning in cardiac surgery" stated Vishal Bali, vice president, Wockhardt. The vision of bringing global standards in healthcare to India is reflected in this programme, he added.

Dr Youtao, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon Zanzhou University Hospital who is currently undergoing the training program at Wockhardt explained that, "Cardiovascular surgery is a skillful art that demands years of experience and practice. There are few surgeons in the world who have the skills and experience in Beating Heart Surgery. We are keen to learn this surgery to start provide the benefits of this technique to our patients in China."