• Sunway Medical Centre launched its first Cambridge-Royal Papworth-Sunway Heart and Lung Symposium.

• Part of a collaboration with the Cambridge University-affiliated Royal Papworth Hospital (UK).

Heart disease has been the leading cause of death among Malaysians for the past 10 years. In fact, 13.9% deaths in 2017 were caused by heart diseases. That’s a 54% increase from 10 years ago, according to Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Sunway Medical Centre launched its first Cambridge-Royal Papworth-Sunway Heart and Lung Symposium in November 2018 in collaboration with the Cambridge University-affiliated Royal Papworth Hospital (UK), a leading hospital for heart and lung diseases. The symposium included speakers from both hospitals who are specialists in the areas of cardiology, vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, respiratory medicine, and genetic pathology, among others.

The three-day event, attended by guests and members of the media, was launched by YB Dr Lee Boon Chye, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health Malaysia. The collaboration will also see the development of clinical services at Sunway Medical Centre through training and research.

The healthcare division’s Heart and Vascular Centre is also equipped with cutting edge technology, offering medical services for heart and vascular conditions in both adult and children, including 24-hour emergency services, screening, scanning machines, genetic testing, angiograms, balloon and stenting procedures, and heart bypass procedures.

Sunway Medical also acquired the Philips Azurion 7 biplane for its centre. The technology is designed to undertake complex interventional procedures in the diagnosis and treatment of blocked heart blood vessels in both adults and children, and is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

“As a leading private tertiary hospital in this country, Sunway Medical Centre is continuously investing in skilled personnel and state-of-the-art equipment to treat the most challenging conditions,” said Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO, Sunway Group Chairman and Founder, who gave the opening address at the event.

“We also support extensively the need for a knowledge exchange platform among fellow medical practitioners everywhere. This collaborative event between Royal Papworth Hospital and Sunway Medical is the culmination of all of our efforts to support the advancement of medicine for the benefit of all” he said.