ISLAMABAD: Vice Chancellor Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (Pims) Dr Javed Akram on Wednesday said laparoscopic surgery would be institutionalised in the country.
Speaking to participants of concluding session of the “Advanced Laparoscopic Surgical Processors” at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), he said: “At Pims a whole floor will be dedicated for the laparoscopic surgery and all kind of surgeries will be conducted their through laparoscopy.”
He said a postgraduate course about laparoscopy would be introduced at Pims university.
Consultant Surgeon at Chelsea Hospital, UK, Dr Aamir Z Khan said laparoscopy was a future surgery and should be introduced in countries where availability of beds in hospitals was an issue or patients could not afford medicines.
Laparoscopy is a surgery that uses a thin, lighted tube which put through a cut (incision) in the belly to look at the abdominal organs or the female pelvic organs.
It is used to find problems such as cysts and infections. Tissue samples can also be taken for biopsy through the laparoscopy. Dr Khan said that in case of laparoscopic surgery, a small cut is made and patient was discharged on the same day.
“Moreover fewer amount of medicine, especially antibiotics, are required after the procedure and it takes less time for the heal-up of wound. Hospitals should prefer to do surgeries using laparoscopy machines,” he said.
Director Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) Dr Ejaz Qadeer said that laparoscopy was the most advanced technology which was being used in developed countries.
“In a country like Pakistan a number of operations are delayed because of the unavailability of the beds because after surgery a patient keeps occupying a bed for many days. If laparoscopic surgery is conducted in the morning, patient is discharged in the evening,” he said.
“We have only one machine at Pims to conduct the operations but we are trying to get another laparoscopy machine in a few months,” he said.
While briefing about the training workshop, Dr Qadeer said as many as 28 gynaecologists from across the country received training in laparoscopic surgery.
Gynaecologist Syeda Batool Mazhar said the new technology had brought a revolutionary change in the field of surgery all over the world.
“It is the need of the time to adopt new technology in Pakistan because it will not only reduce expenses of operations but address the issue of beds,” she said.
Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2017