India, Australia to collaborate on future cardiovascular surgical technologies

Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Chennai and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia have joined hands to collaborate on the development of future cardiovascular surgical technologies for poor and marginalised communities.

Under one such project, the two organisations will explore the potential to develop a new low cost cardiac device being developed by a team of scientists led by the UNSW’s associate professor Dr Craig McLachlan.

The exploration of new cardiac technology projects have the support of the Australian government’s Australian-Indian Council and Frontier Lifeline Hospital, led by Dr K M Cherian, according to a statement.

One of India’s top heart surgeons, Dr Cherian performed the first cardiac bypass surgery in India in 1975 and was one of the first surgeons to carry out a cardiac transplant in India for both adults and children, the statement said.

As part of collaborative good will, Frontier Lifeline Hospital CEO Dr Cherian and his team will perform surgery for existing heart conditions on two UNSW DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) sponsored Indian patients, who otherwise would not have been able to afford the operation.

“This opportunity is very exciting on many levels,” said Dr McLachlan, research director of the Rural Clinical School (RCS) at UNSW. “The project explores a unique collaborative model for future scientific studies between India and Australia – two nations that often lead the way in research and innovation.”

“More often than not translational development pathways stall at the human feasibility stage. So this Indian collaboration is key to progressing the development of UNSW cardiac devices either from an academic research or commercial partner perspective,” he said.

“UNSW is keen to work with our Indian colleagues on socially-conscious projects that use sustainable technology that lessen the financial burden on patients from lower socio-economic backgrounds,” Dr McLachlan said.

Dr Cherian said, “It’s also great news that through UNSW, DFAT and Frontier Lifeline Hospital, this Indian-Australian collaboration is helping provide sponsored access to surgery and the latest in technology to poor and marginalised communities that otherwise would not have access to this type of healthcare,”.

The RCS brings world-class medical education to the rural Australia, training the next generation of rural and Indigenous doctors, and leads the way in rural healthcare and medical research.