Hundreds of surgeons benefit from live surgeries performed at JPMC by top European professionals

Top European surgeons on Monday performed live surgeries at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) as part of the 14th Surgical Week for Colorectal Diseases starting on October 23 to train Pakistani doctors in surgeries to cure various diseases.

Prof R John Nicholls from England performed a surgery that was witnessed by hundreds of doctors and health practitioners in six major cities of the country.

The officials and organisers of the event said that the exercise was aimed at training Pakistani surgeons in this area as around 40 percent of all the patients of colorectal diseases required surgery for the treatment of these conditions.

People suffering from colorectal diseases, including colon cancer, hemorrhoids, fistula and inflammatory bowel disease, regularly come to the JPMC from across Pakistan for the surgical treatment, as only a few advanced health facilities in the country has trained and qualified surgeons and facilities to treat these diseases in their advanced stages.

The organisers of the event said that the live surgery experience would prove an effective tool for local doctors, surgeons and other health practitioners, giving them a first-hand opportunity to learn from the world’s best professionals of the area.

“Three top-notch surgeons, one each from France, the UK and Ireland, are here to perform live surgeries during the 14th Colorectal Week starting here at the JPMC, which is being attended by over 500 surgeons from entire Pakistan, while these surgeries will be shown live in six cities of the country,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the JPMC, key organiser of the event.

Prof Nicholls, while sharing his experience and highlighting the importance of such events, said that the number of patients affected by colorectal diseases was increasing and there was an immense need to go for better technological support and surgical cure for quick and effective results.

“Under the exiting practice in Pakistan, there are some major issues which are needed to be addressed through latest technological support,” he said. “In the West, we have achieved a major success through different experiments and now the patients of this disease do not need to suffer more during treatment and surgeries. That was the core part of our exercise that we showed local doctors and surgeons how they could treat their patients without too much restrictions and obstacles.”

The 54th Annual Symposium of the JPMC would also be starting on Wednesday, October 23, at the JPMC, which would be addressed by eight international experts from different continents of the world, while experts and speakers from across Pakistan would be presenting their papers, research and data on different fields of medicine and surgery at the event.

Apart from Professor Nicholls two other master trainers — Prof Yves Panis from France and Prof Ronan O’Connell from Ireland -- would also be performing live surgeries and giving lectures on surgical treatment of various colorectal diseases, including colon cancer, hemorrhoids, fistula repair and inflammatory bowel disease.

Renowned Pakistani surgeon Dr Mumtaz Maher lamented that the majority of patients in Pakistan hesitated while sharing true details of their disease that led to further complication in their illness.

“Most of the time such attitudes of the patients lead to cancer and by that time it’s too late to share anything with the doctors. Apart from education and professional excellences of the doctors and surgeons, there is also a need to make people aware about such things that they don’t have to hesitate before their doctors while sharing details of their diseases,” said Dr Maher.