Cuttack: Shanti Memorial Hospital, a leading healthcare service provider has organized a two days unique training and educational event on Hernia Surgical Care under aegesis of AWR Surgeons Community. The AWR: Looking East , a live operative surgery conference is being held in Cuttack on 20th and 21st of August at Shanti Memorial Hospital, with approximately 150 surgeons participating from all over eastern India. A bunch of national faculty are also taking part in this conference.
The conference showcases 14 different operations from simple to complex, covering laparoscopic, open and robotic hernia surgeries. There will be live transmission of these surgeries to the conference venue. Also there will be deliberations on different surgical techniques at the conference.
The field of hernia surgery in India has dramatically changed in the last 5 years, reflecting a revolution in surgical approaches to this common clinical condition .The condition known as hernia is an umbrella term, including a wide variety of conditions. All involve the defect (like a hole) in the muscular wall of the body cavity. In men, hernias tend to affect the groin area, while in women they tend to occur at the navel or under an operative scar for C-section or hysterectomy. Any kind of surgery, especially open surgery, may lead to muscle wall weakness and a hole/hernia.
Modern hernia surgery is now considered an emerging specialty called abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR). In 2017, this specialty was formalized in India by Dr B Ramana, a Kolkata-based surgeon who is regarded as the pioneer of this field. Ramana established the AWR Surgeons Community that has helped train and propagate the newer, more modern methods of treating hernias of all kinds, especially the most difficult and large ones. This community is now nearly 5000 strong. Over 20,000 surgeons in India have got trained over the last 5 years, and the patients in India are increasingly getting access to high end minimally invasive surgical care for this condition, like in the US. The modern approaches to hernia surgery include open, laparoscopic and robotic platforms.
Dr Sreejoy Patnaik installed a CMR Surgical robot in his hospital last year, opening up the scope for robotic surgeries in Odisha for the first time . “Patients are very happy with the nearly pain-free recovery and minimal scarring. The marginal increase in costs is well worth it. I am confident that patients and surgeons alike will respond positively to this novel development in hernia surgical care”, he stated.
Speaking about the event, Dr C R Das, Medical Director Shanti Memorial Hospital & Ex Director Capital Hospital Bhubaneswar said, “ While the field of AWR has gotten well established in cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, Odisha has still not really taken it up. I feel proud that we have taken this step to remedy this situation by holding this training and educational event for local surgeons under the banner of the AWR Surgeons Community.”
“Hernias are a major social health issue as the cost to health and to society is very high. While a million hernia operations are done in the US every year, we do not know the numbers in India, owing to a lack of data. But it is possible that up to 20% of women who undergo C-sections or hysterectomies develop incisional hernias.”, stated Dr Ramana
