Officials with St. Jude Medical Inc. cut the ribbons on the medical device giant's new China training center in Beijing Monday. The goal is to familiarize local doctors with techniques to treat one of China's growing problems: heart disease.
The St. Jude Medical Advanced Technology Center Asia Pacific lets doctors use virtual reality simulators to practice implanting St. Jude heart valves and other techniques. The training program for the center was developed with the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society.
St. Jude expects nearly 2,000 doctors from the region to visit the center each year.
"With interactive sessions, a virtual reality experience, and curricula developed by many of Asia's most preeminent scientists specializing in arrhythmia management, I believe the training will provide physicians with a truly unique, hands-on and enjoyable learning experience that they can't find anywhere else," said Prof. Shu Zhang, director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and Clinical Electrophysiology Laboratory in Beijing Fu Wai Hospital, in a statement.
This is the second such training center the St. Paul, Minn.-based company has opened - the first was in Brussels in August 2009. St. Jude said it plans to open other centers in the United States, Japan, Malaysia and Costa Rica. Construction on the Malaysian center began earlier this month. It's expected to be completed next year.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in China, killing around 2.6 million people every year, according to China Daily. Last year, researchers with Columbia University said the problem would only get worse, with heart disease and death rates surging by up to 73 percent over the next 20 years. The increase is partly due to the country's aging population and dietary and lifestyle changes. China also has around 350 million smokers, according to some estimates.
