March 10, 2007	Saturday	Safar 20, 1428

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RAWALPINDI, March 9: The Foundation University Medical College (FUMC) plans to establish a Centre of Excellence for Minimal Access Surgery (MAS), the latest trend in surgery.

This was announced by FUMC Rector Prof Asrarul Haq Shaikh while inaugurating a two-day workshop on MAS here on Thursday. PC-1 of the project would be ready next week, he said hoping the project would be approved by the Higher Education Commission.

Guest speaker Dr Abid Jamal, a leading MAS surgeon from Karachi, called for promoting the minimal access surgery in the country as it involved no incisions, brings quick recovery to patients and was cost effective, cheaper than open surgery.

Government should subsidise the import of laproscopic equipment the same way it did with heart surgery equipment so that hospitals could equip themselves with MAS system, he said.

Dr Jamal, however, laid most stress on training surgeons and supporting staff in the new technique, and on “promoting ethical practices to prevent abuse or misuse of the technology”.

Dr Rehan Masood of the FUMC, who followed him, said the MAS surgery was a hot topic at medical forums “it lacks institutional support” in Pakistan. There was no dedicated centre for training in MAS, he observed.

In contrast, India seized the opportunities offered by the new surgical technique early in 1993. “Today India is the biggest source of MAS training in Asia. It has 27 training centres and the third largest contributor to the scientific literature on MAS in the world”.

App adds: A three-day international conference on pulmonology and critical care was inaugurated in Rawalpindi here on Friday.

Surgeon general and director general medical services, Lt-Gen Mushtaq Ahmed Baig was the chief guest on the occasion.

The conference is being hosted by the department of pulmonology and critical care, Military Hospital Rawalpindi, in collaboration with the Pakistan Chest Society.

The theme of the conference is, “Healthy Lungs Happy Life.”

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, London is also being represented by its South Asia Director. Foreign delegates from France and the UK are also expected to deliver talks.

Approximately 50 papers are being read at the conference in addition to some state-of-the-art lectures.

The pulmonology department at MH, which began as a small diagnostic unit in 1985, has now blossomed into a full-fledged academic department.