‘Thorough training of surgeons must’
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, February 20
If Indian surgeons want to be at par with their Western counterparts, then their thorough training is must. The progress of the health sector depends on the thorough professional training of the doctors and the members have to be properly disciplined. These views were expressed by Sir Alfred Cuschieri, Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, University of Dundee and Director, Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit for Scotland. Sir Alfred was here as a special invitee to attend the sixth national conference of endoscopic surgery being held at the DMCH and Park Plaza here.

In an interview with Ludhiana Tribune, Sir Alfred said that India was not lacking anywhere as far as medical facilities were concerned. The surgeons were as good as the surgeons in any part of the world. But they had to maintain and ensure the standard of practice. He agreed that it was very difficult for the country like India, which was over-populated, to maintain standardisation of surgery. "But if certain steps are taken, India would definitely be on the forefront in the field of medicine," he said.

On asking whether such meetings were beneficial, Sir Alfred said that such conferences imparted real education. They brought so many experts together to share their views and update their knowledge and skills.

Ultramodern laparoscopic equipment on display
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 20
The 6th National Conference of Indian Association of Gastro-Endo-Surgeons organised by the Department of Surgery of the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital and the Indian Association of Gastro Intestinal Endo Surgeons (IAGES), entered its second day today. More than 1,000 surgeons from all over the world attended the brainstorming sessions conducted by various world renowned surgeons with the aid of audio-visual projections. Not only this, delegates took a lot of interest in various kinds of ultramodern laproscopic equipment put up on display by various companies.

The attraction of the event today was the opening plenary sessions conducted by Prof Alfred Cuschieri and presidential lecture by Dr K. Ravindranath on, ‘Laproscopic surgery-present and future.’

Through free papers, oral sessions and video sessions, the budding surgeons benefitted from the works done by experts in the field of laproscopic surgery. The second day of the conference concluded with the general body meeting of the IAGES in which Dr Kuldeep Singh was elected unopposed as the president of the IAGES-2004. In the evening, international faculty was honoured by Dr T.E. Udwadia.

While talking about the trends in laproscopy these days, Dr Kuldip Singh, organising Secretary of conference said, “Gall bladder surgery through laproscopy has become a gold standard method these days but still there could be complications when done by untrained person. There is a need to evolve a discipline and training programmes to make laproscopy more safe and acceptable in all-difficult situations. This conference is an attempt to achieve this aim by bringing prominent world-renowned experts under one roof to chalk out a policy and to train budding surgeons for the service of humanity”. He also said robotic laproscopic surgery was in its developing stage at western countries and will soon bring revolution in this field as it was a very accurate method.

Cardiac surgeon from Italy visits Hero DMC

Ludhiana, February 20
Dr A.M. Calafiore, Chief of Cardiac Surgery, University of Turino, Italy, visited the Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI) and guided the team of the HDHI doctors to perform rare surgeries and gave live demonstrations.

Dr G.S. Wander, Chief Cardiologist, HDHI, while briefing the mediapersons here last evening said that the heart institute had made an arrangement with Dr Calafiore under which the institute would have an exchange of expertise in the field of cardiac surgery. He will be visiting heart institute after every three months. He has performed about 50,000 heart surgeries. OC

Annual day

Ludhiana, February 20
A function was organised by Dr D Kotnis Health and Education Centre, an acupuncture hospital, on its 29th Annual Day here yesterday. Mr Piara Singh Khabra, an MP from England, Mr Joginder Singh Saroe, a councillor of England, and Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib were chief guests. OC

Annual athletics meets
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, February 20
The annual athletics meet will be held at the Malwa Central College for Women tomorrow. According to Dr Ravinder Kaur, Principal of the college, Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, member of Parliament, will be the chief guest.

The 57th edition of the annual athletics meet of the Arya College for Boys will be held on February 21 and 22. Giving this information, Mr S M Sharma, Principal, Dr Kewal Singh, Assistant Director, Physical Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh, will inaugurate the meet, while Mr Rakesh Pandey, Minister of State for Stationery and Printing, Punjab will be the chief guest at the prize distribution function on February 22.

Meanwhile, the annual sports function of the Arya College for Women will be held on the boys college campus on February 24 where Mr Dinkar Gupta, DIG, Ludhiana Range, will be the chief guest.