UK Healthcare Teams up with Kolkata Medical College

Leeds Global Health Research Group, UK on Surgical Technologies (GHRG-ST) is collaborating with Kolkata Medical College to benefit patients for laparoscopic surgery in 4 states of rural northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland).

Seven surgeons from these four northeastern states undertook their first training at Kolkata Medical College on 11–14 March 2019. Using a mix of teaching, simulation, and live demonstration, the rural surgeons gained proficiency with the GILLS technique.

The Leeds team comprised surgeons, researchers and engineers who have expertise in developing new solutions to areas of clinical need and evaluating the benefits and costs in clinical practice.

Laparoscopic – or “keyhole” surgery is done through small cuts, rather than large incisions used in open surgery. Patients suffer less pain and make a quicker recovery with fewer complications. The benefits of laparoscopic surgery are well known in high-income countries, but have not been evaluated in lower income countries, where the benefit may be even more apparent.

The barriers to implementing laparoscopic surgery in rural settings are a lack of resources, in particular, a lack of anaesthetists. A solution is a modification of the laparoscopic technique, called Gas Insufflation-Less Laparoscopic Surgery (GILLS) - as pioneered by Dr J.Gnanaraj (formerly Sheesha Hospital, Coimbatore). The GILLS technique can be used under simple spinal anaesthesia to perform laparoscopic operations at a lower cost, but with similar benefits for patients.

The programme is funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research, the research arm of the UK National Health Service (NHS), with the aim of improving surgical care.

Bruce Bucknell, British Deputy High Commissioner, Kolkata, met the Leeds GHRG-ST team in Kolkata. He said that they are fully supportive of this exciting new initiative, which addresses a real clinical need and will help to raise the availability and standard of surgical care in the rural areas of northeast of India.

Professor SukumarMaiti, Head of Department, Surgery, Kolkata Medical College said that guest surgeons and gynaecologists from different medical colleges in Kolkata had a useful session on the scope and future of the gasless and safe principle of Laparoscopic Surgery. It was a programme with grand success for the hands-on training of seven surgeons working in the rural areas of northeast of India.

The next phase of the programme will be to support the rural surgeons to undertake laparoscopic surgery in their own hospitals. This will consist of further workshops and a preceptorship programme providing one-to-one support. The aim is for the rural surgeons will become the GILLS trainers of the future, helping to spread laparoscopic surgery across rural communities, reducing costs of surgery and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the programme.

Other projects being undertaken by the Leeds GHRG-ST team in NE India include engineering devices to facilitate GILLS surgery, and support for rural diagnostic camps.