Dr. A.K. Singal MBBS (Gold Medalist), DNB, MNAMS
M.CH (AIIMS, Gold Medalist)
Stecker Scholar Pediatric Urology (USA)
M.CH (AIIMS, Gold Medalist)
Stecker Scholar Pediatric Urology (USA)
Dr Arbinder K Singal, paediatric surgeon and pediatric urologist, MGM Medical College and Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, recently underwent a training in Robotic Surgery at the Harvard Medical School and Minnesota University, USA.
During the visit, Singal(33) , a gold medalist from AIIMS, New Delhi attended American Urology Association Meet at Orlando, Florida. The meet enabled Singal to keep himself abreast of the latest developments in pediatric surgery and urology.
At Harvard, Singal collaborated with Stuart Bauer, an eminent pediatric urologist and undertook project work on an important topic, which dealt with children born with abnormal nerves to the bladder. Thereby they are unable to control urinary as well as other rare diseases
Boston Children’s Hospital under Harvard University is considered as one of the best hospitals in the world. “The work will be published in international journals shortly,” said Singal, who already has over 25 publications to his credit so far.
At Harvard, Dr Singal delivered lecture on the status of pediatric urology in India. “It was based on the interesting cases I came across during my three-year training, on the field as well as over two and half years in my stint with MGM Group of Hospitals in Navi Mumbai,” informed Singal.
It was well received and appreciated by the Harvard Pediatric medical fraternity. The lecture gave them insight to the Indian Scenario. Singal also delivered lectures at the Minnesota University, as a visiting professor. At Harvard and Minnesota, Singal got extensive exposure to advance surgical procedures in Pediatric Urology.
“Dr Nitin Kadam, Director of MGM group of Hospitals, encouraged me to undertake the visit. He is keen to further upgrade the Pediatric unit facilities at the Hospital with state of art expertise,” explained Singal. He underwent Robotic Surgery Training Course at Harvard and Minnesota. “At Minnesota they have very good simulator. You can feel that you are actually performing a surgery,” informed Singal.
“Robot Surgery is same as laparoscopy. But it is three dimensional inside the body. Biggest advantage is the flexibility it affords to stitch anything inside. Otherwise, it is very difficult and time consuming to stitch there. Technically it is easier. However Robotic surgery is a means of surgery. It is not a surgery itself,” clarified Singal.
A Robot costs Rs six crores. That is the hitch. At present, there are only two such Robots, one each at AIIMS and Bangalore. One Hospital in Mumbai is likely to go in for the same shortly. “There are parents who can afford such specialised surgery for their babies. Then we can take such babies there and perform such surgeries,” said Singal.
Dr. Singal operated laparoscopically upon a seven –year- old boy from Panvel, whose kidneys have failed. “Without a cut on the belly, we make a small tiny puncture. Instrument is put through key hole. So we removed both the kidneys laparoscopically. Doing so on both the sides is technically a big challenge. We did the surgery without any cuts and stitches on the belly. The boy went home on the same day,” concluded Singal.
