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The Foundation University Medical College plans course on latest surgery
RAWALPINDI, March 10(Dawn): 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.
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