There is a general feeling among surgeons in State-run hospitals that no matter how well they handle complex surgeries, very little recognition follows. In a move that could well be termed a path-breaker of sorts, a novel surgery conducted by the vastly experienced director of Regional Insititute of Ophthalmology and Government Eye Hospital (RIO) Dr Vasantha, was relayed live to a medical institute in Russia.
“They were quite appreciative and applauded the way she did the surgery,” said MMC Dean Dr V Kanagasabai proudly, after the surgery was beamed to medical students at the Helmholtz Moscow Research Institute. Dr Vasantha performed a surgery on a farmer, whose eyes were almost completely covered by cataracts.
The novel part was that, for the first time in the public sector, she implanted a folded lens through a tiny incision of only 1.8mm. “We implant lenses through 2.8mm, but this needs more suturing and requires longer hospital stay. This required almost no hospitalization and the patient can leave right away,” she said.
A multinational who provides surgical optical lenses in several countries, the surgery was transmitted live.
This is the first time that live surgeries have been transmitted from a government hospital here and will possibly provide the roadmap for increasing knowledge with foreign medical institutes. “We still have to rent the video equipment to do the relay but perhaps we will be able to procure such equipment as it is an excellent knowledge sharing opportunity,” said the Dean.