Hyderabad, April 21 (IANS) Medtronic Inc, a US-based global leader in medical technology, Monday announced opening of the first centre of excellence for device implantation in South Asia in collaboration with Care Hospital here. The Care Hospital will be the first centre in South Asia to offer hands-on training to cardiologists. Physicians will be trained on dual chamber pacemaker therapy and cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) implants through hands on experience under the guidance of renowned electro physiologist C. Narasimhan.

Announcing this at a news conference here, B. Soma Raju, chairman and managing director of Care Group of Hospitals, said India with a population of more than a billion has very few implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and CRT implant centres compared to the US or Europe.

He said the number of patients who are indicated for these devices is far greater than the actual number of patients implanted as very few cardiologists have expertise in device implantation, and the awareness among physicians and patients about the latest medical device therapies and their benefits is low.

“Medtronic is committed to providing leading edge education to medical professionals, since training and education are key to ensuring safe, appropriate and efficient use of the company’s highly innovative devices and therapies,” said Milind Shah, managing director of India Medtronic.

Narasimhan, head of electrophysiology department at Care Hospital and president of Indian Society of Electrocardiographers (ISE), said they have designed a series of didactic and practical training modules to ensure that physicians receive a quality of care unmatched in the industry.