The Karnataka chapter of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India has proposed to the State government to allow the speciality to be recognised for insurance coverage so that trauma and other diseases where reconstructive surgery is critical can be afforded by a larger section of the population. The chapter also calls for support from non-government organisations, charitable institutes and financial bodies to support the cause of conducting free plastic surgery camps on similar lines of free medical camps here in the State.

Further, the chapter is making efforts to create awareness about plastic surgery among the public and bring home the point that it is more of a reconstructive procedure for burns and accident trauma victims. There are two critical factors in plastic surgery conducted for accident trauma and burns where time of admission for surgery and preservation of the injured part should be taken care of. Another point that is being dealt in the awareness programme is the affordable cost factor and that only cosmetic surgeries which a patient demands to beautify himself is expensive.

Dr. B Sadashiva Murthy, president, The Association of Plastic Surgeons of India said that several efforts have been made to the government for an insurance policy for those who undergo plastic surgery and are not able to pay up. In fact, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has insured each plastic surgeon for Rs three lakh. For patient's coverage, the insurance companies are ready and a scheme is being proposed where each poor patient needs to spend less than a rupee for his premium. The main issue is that government should insist adequate funding from private and charitable institutions.

According to Dr. Sadashiva Murthy, the High Court is in favour of approving compensation for plastic surgeries in trauma and burns case. This is an important step for the approval of insurance for patients under going such surgeries.

The myth that plastic surgery is only for cosmetic reasons is not true as nearly 95 per cent of the surgeries performed by the hospitals in the country are reconstructive purposes where a victim who has cut his finger or hand, toes or feet following an industrial accident which is reconstructed by plastic surgeons. Similarly many of the reconstructive surgeries are for road accident trauma and burns where a plastic surgeons role is critical. Currently, in India there are 2,500 trauma victims and 15,000 work-related injuries happening in a day. The burns departments in many of the hospitals in the country are managed solely by plastic surgeons. Only five per cent of plastic surgeries are performed for cosmetology reasons.

There are leading plastic surgeons aboard and Indian surgeons are on par with the West in terms of skill and dexterity, Dr. Sadashiva Murthy pointed out. There are several plastic surgeons from abroad who come to India for training at the several private hospitals for gathering a wide experience in the surgical methods more so in industrial trauma and burns, apart from cleft lip and pallet corrections. The presence of a wide variety of patients attracts plastic surgeons from abroad to come here for a better exposure in their field.

The plastic surgeons job is team-up with orthopaedic and neuro surgeons and operate on the patient to save his fracture in the first hour of the surgery. "We have been a neglected lot but slowly hospitals in the country are recognising the indispensability of plastic surgeons," he noted.

Plastic surgeons qualify initially in general surgery after which they do their post graduation in plastic surgery and then go aboard for advanced training before they actually practise their surgical skills in micro vascular, limb reconstruction and cosmetic procedures, said Dr. Niranjan Kumar, chief plastic surgeon, Manipal Hospital.

There are around 700 plastic surgeons in India and 55 of them are in Karnataka. There are three leading teaching hospitals here in the State, which offer post graduation in plastic surgery. These are Bangalore Medical College, St. Johns Medical College and Mysore Medical College. Dr. V A Ram of Victoria Hospital highlighted the importance of plastic surgery in 1975. Most of the surgeons from Karnataka are indebted to the training they received under Dr. C R Sundararajan from Chennai who was the former president of APSI and Surgeons of India. Some of the leading hospitals conducting surgeries here in the State are in the private and government healthcare facilities. In the private sector it is Manipal Hospital and several other centres in Mysore, Belgaum, Hubli and Davangere to name a few. Among the government hospitals in Bangalore, the presence of an exclusive department of plastic surgery is at Victoria Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Accident Relief Centre.

According to Dr. Sadashiva Murthy, for hospitals to set-up a plastic surgery department it costs only Rs. 50,000 as investment in equipment is not much. The entire surgery is more of a skill.