The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), England is organizing a multi-speciality surgical symposium in Bangalore on May 13 and 14, 2010. The two-day event will be held at the Leela Palace in the city.

Around 350 surgeons from Indian and international hospitals are expected participate including experts from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The mega surgical symposium which is held once in every three years in different countries had its last event at Dubai. Prior to this, the event which is in its 19 years was held at Singapore, Hong Kong, China US among others.

The event will give a chance for Indian surgeons to update on the latest methods and interact with RCS experts. It would provide the latest developments in surgical techniques. The scientific sessions will include surgical infections, breast reconstruction, spina bifida, major limb trauma, paediatric surgery, transplantation, vascular surgery, cancer care 2010, inflammatory arthritis 2010, horizons in endoscopy, besides examination and training in surgery in India apart of robotic surgery know-how.

As part of the event, RCS has chosen to honour 12 surgeons in the country. These include three from Bangalore: Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, CMD, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Dr Sharan Patil, head Sparsh Hospital and Dr Mahesh Reddy from Nova Medical Centre.

The conference which evolves around the theme ‘art of the possible’ now will enable the surgeons to achieve and maintain the highest level of surgical practice and patient care across geographies. “The event will help the surgical community to comprehend the existing lacunae and bottle necks in the speciality. It will also help to strengthen the medical relations between India and England through mutual recognition of training, granting degrees,” said John Black, president, Royal College of Surgeons.

“India which is a preferred medical care destination for the developing and developed world patients without insurance flocked here for cosmetic and plastic surgical procedures. Medical tourism will become a US$ 10 billion industry by 2012. The recognition of India’s medical infrastructure and surgical expertise which will be highlighted through the symposium, could hopefully see international patients access hospitals here for advanced surgeries primarily it would cost just one-tenth against US and one-seventh compared to UK rates,” said Dr Mahesh Reddy, co-founder and director, Nova Medical Centre.

While there is a serious shortage of surgeons, the RCS is looking to introduce a common examination structure based on international standards for Indian doctors aiming to specialize in surgery. Currently, in India, there are six surgeons for 10,000 people which is the lowest in the world against UK’s 26, US’ 23 and Australia’s 25 surgeons.

A visible trend is the reverse brain drain of surgeons. There is also an increased interest towards minimally invasive and blood less surgical techniques. The concept of robotic surgery which was developed by NASA is yet to find applications in operation theatres globally, said Black.
Although it is difficult to bring down the cost of surgery per se, hospitals are adopting day care surgery concepts in India which helps bring down costs by around 20 per cent. Almost 70 per cent of the surgeries performed in the US are day care processes, said Dr Reddy.