The surgery was a triple bypass performed by Professor Julian Smith, Head of the hospital’s Department of Surgery, on a 72-year-old man who was suffering from ‘breathlessness on exertion due to narrowing of his three main coronary arteries’.

The surgery reportedly went well, with the patient being discharged home a few days later.

The hospital is the only dedicated cardiac hospital in Australia, and is affiliated with the city’s Monash University public research institution. The 206-bed facility opened its doors to patients on 19 February.

Smith stated that the work needed to establish the new hospital had involved ‘a huge contribution from many people over more than a decade, followed by rigorous preparation and testing of equipment and processes prior to the first operation’.

He added that: “Teaching, training and research along with providing assistance to communities in the Asia Pacific region will be other essential activities within the new hospital, and we have exciting times ahead.”

In Cambodia, the city Phnom Penh celebrated the opening of the Orienda International Hospital earlier this month.