Live Operative workshop held in Vashi, New Bombay Plus, Jan15, 2008,New Bombay Plus,January 15, 2008

Live operative workshop on pediatric urology held at vashi

The International Live Operative Workshop on Pediatric Urology was jointly organised by Mahatma Gandhi Mission (MGM) University of Health Sciences, Navi Mumbai, along with MGM’s New Bombay Hospital, at Vashi on January 12 and 13, 2008.

Around 10 children between the age group of 10 months to five years, who had some deformities in their kidney or urinary passage, reproductive system, were operated upon in this workshop by internationally renowned pediatric urology surgeons Dr V R Jayanthi and Dr Aseem Shukla, from Ohio State University and University of Minnesota, USA, respectively, free of cost.

Tahira Khatun and Abdul Mannan were happy to see that their five-year-old son Firdaus was recuperating at the ICU at MGM hospital after a long operation. Firdaus was born with a big lump at the right side of his loin, due to which he used to often suffer from high fever and infection.

The boy’s father, Abdul, a resident of Chembur, said, “The boy was treated at our native village in Uttar Pradesh. But he was not cured completely. So I brought him here in Mumbai and took him to the Sion Hospital. The doctors referred him to MGM Hospital and since October 2007, he was treated under Dr A K Singal. He suggested the operation and asked us to come for this camp where my child was operated on free of cost.”

The child had been suffering right from birth, with an obstruction in the path in his urinary track, causing the urine to accumulate in his kidney and that’s why he had a swelling. This abnormality was totally rectified with Laparoscopic pyeloplasty conducted by Dr Jayanthi.

Pediatric Urology Specialist from MGM, Dr Singal, the organising secretary of the workshop, said, “This method is more advanced than any conference ever held in Navi Mumbai. It is in this way that surgeons learn the advanced surgeries right from the experts in the field by seeing them operate on the patients. We have kept some clinical cases with diagnostic dilemmas for discussion by the expert faculty.”

The workshop had been thoughtfully designed and included recent advancements in pediatric urological surgeries, like Vesicoscopic Reimplantation, Laparoscopic pyeloplasty and single stage hypospadias repair. Children with birth defects in the urinary system and reproductive organs were operated on during the workshop at MGM hospital, Vashi, and the live audio-visual transmission was arranged at Navi Mumbai Sports Association Auditorium.

Local faculty included Dr Ravi Ramadwar, Dr S B Mane, Dr Rasik Shah as the operating surgeons and more than 100 senior doctors from all over India, including institutes like AIIMS New Delhi, PGI Chandigrah, CMC Vellore and others and doctors from local medical colleges, like KEM, Nair, JJ and Sion, also took part in this workshop. Apart from them, a host of PG students (MCH), from all over India attended the workshop.

One of the guests from Chennai, Dr V Sripathi, president of IAPS, Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, was overwhelmed with the set-up and arrangements.

He said, “For the last 15 years, I have attended many such workshops in India and abroad. But the contents, quality of discussions and the operative skill demonstrated here are really outstanding. The choices of cases discussed during the sessions are of very high quality. My personal opinion is that this type of workshop should be arranged regularly to keep abreast the new techniques and advancements in the super specialty field of surgeries.”

Anjani K Kundal , a post graduate student from Gangaram Hospital, Delhi, said, “Eventually, technical expertise and clinical works, which were shared by these two international doctors, enlightend many of us with detailed practical evidences and case studies, which will definitely be helpful for senior medical students. Furthermore, it was an enchanting experience to watch the video recording of robotic surgeries, which had been performed by Dr Asheem Shukla in USA.”

Dr Nitin Kadam, the chairman of the workshop, concluded, “The workshop is aimed at highlighting the new specialty of pediatric urology and also to create an awareness regarding these disorders in children. Secondly, it will also promote super specialty health care in Navi Mumbai to bring the developing city to the forefront. Over the last one year, consultants have been providing specialised care to the children suffering with congenital defects and now we are more confident of taking up any further challenges.”