Asia’s first Breast Academy at KMCH

Hologic has started a strategic partnership with the women’s imaging department at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, Coimbatore. The collaborative partnership has established Asia’s first ‘Hologic Breast Academy’ in Coimbatore making them forerunners in the stream.

The ceremony of signing the memorandum and inauguration of the centre was presided over by Dr. Arun N Palaniswami, Executive Director, KMCH, in the presence of several senior officials from Hologic including Linda Seah VP/GM Emerging Asia, V Venkatraman Business Director, India and Paul Stephen, Regional Commercial Manager for India.

The academy will run courses right from the basics to the most advanced techniques in breast imaging. The courses will be available on the website www.kmchbreastacademy.com

Chairman of KMCH Dr Nalla G Palaniswami in his absentia expressed his delight that the Breast Center at KMCH had global recognition and extended to support this venture in every way possible.

Dr. Arun N Palaniswami, Executive Director, KMCH, emphasized that mammography screening for breast cancer should be popularized since breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and lives could be saved through early detection. He addressed the need for key outcomes of these key elements of this collaboration, once against paving the way to pioneer in the field of breast cancer. He highlighted the progressive measures taken at KMCH regarding breast cancer and making the latest technology available for every individual woman. Meanwhile, a note of the awareness initiatives was presented.

Dr Mathew Cherian, the Chief of Radiology services at KMCH Centre said he was proud of the achievements of the Women’s Imaging Centre and was happy to see it grow to become a leader in education not just in India but across the Asia Pacific region. He pointed out the need for the academy as such. He said, “Technological availability is not a big deal rather the right person with the right technical skill to run the machine is a demand and KMCH is delighted to take up this initiative in educating practitioners regarding the same.”

The hospital has been at the forefront of breast imaging and the division is led by Dr Rupa Renganathan, one of the leading breast imaging specialists in India. She stated that one in every twenty-eight women is vulnerable to acquiring breast cancer. The need for early detection has to be conveyed among the public to aid the best cure at the right time and to save the lives of many. Every city requires at least 20 mammography examiners, on the contrary, there are only 5 hospitals in this city. So the need to be educated regarding its usage among medical professionals is a need.

The department at KMCH has a state-of-the-art Mammography unit from Hologic, which performs breast imaging at the highest resolution. The system also performs fast tomosynthesis, (which is almost like a CT scan of the breast) and is one of the leading contrast-enhanced mammography solutions.

While inaugurating the centre Linda Seah, Vice President and General Manager of Hologic for Emerging Asia, said that she is looking forward to this new venture to ensure that people from any part of Asia could be trained in Coimbatore. This ensures that when they buy equipment, they are adequately trained to use these systems for the best patient outcomes.

Hologic believes in creating global education sites to ensure that the technology they deliver is also utilized to the maximum. The company has similar learning centres in the United States and Europe, and when they were looking for a partner to develop a centre of excellence and training in breast imaging in Asia; they felt Kovai Medical Center and Hospital could fit the bill.