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A global destination for health tourism
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India has a bright future in the field of healthcare, tells this eminent cardiac surgeon to Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
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It is very important to combine clinical work with research. Unfortunately, in India, this has become a difficult task due to our own faults," says Dr. Cherian
K.M. Cherian, eminent cardiac surgeon who heads the Chennai-based International Centre for Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Diseases, says India has a bright future in the field of healthcare and related technological advancement.
In a chat with The Hindu at Parumala, near Thiruvalla, recently, Dr. Cherian said the country was fast becoming a global destination for health tourism. The vision of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to provide urban facilities in rural areas (PURA) was the first and foremost step in this direction, he said.
Dr. Cherian claimed his healthcare venture to provide advanced and state-of-the-art cardiac care facility in Parumala, a village in Central Travancore region in Kerala, was the only one of its kind in the world. This could also be a boon to the State's health tourism.
"It is very important to combine clinical work with research. Unfortunately, in India, this has become a difficult task due to our own faults," said Dr. Cherian.
"If you do not have technology, you will not be able to move ahead with research projects."
Dr. Cherian alleged that the Department of Biotechnology was often found to be maintaining a partisan attitude, destroying the very spirit of the scientific community, especially in the South.
According to Dr. Cherian, the stem cells in the umbilical chord are embryonic and if proper atmosphere and nutrients are given, they can be grown into different body parts like bone, bone marrow, teeth, heart muscles, valves, etc.
He claimed that the International Centre in Chennai was in the process of growing heart muscles and had filed the papers for patent for the special technique in November 2003.
"The heart of pigs and that of humans are identical. If the pig cells in the pig heart valve are removed through decelluarisation process, the human body would readily accept it." Dr Cherian's Chennai-based international centre has signed a memorandum of understanding with the State-owned Meat Products India Limited in Koothattukulam in Kottayam district to procure pig heart valves. The MPIL factory is the largest piggery unit in the country and the Chennai centre has set up a pig heart valve and ureter-harvesting unit at the factory in Koothattukulam. Decellularisation is being done at the Chennai centre.
Dr. Cherain said the centre was yet to commercialise the tissue-engineered heart valve, which cost 5,000 Euro (Rs. 2.5 lakhs) in Germany, which has the first unit in the world. However, the indigenously developed valve could be sold at a competitive price of Rs. 35,000 in India.
He said Japan was far ahead in the use of tissue engineered, biodegradable heart valves than the U.S. and other developed countries. The clinical use of porcine xenotransplant is gaining wide acceptance the world over, said Dr. Cherian.
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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