No minimally invasive surgeries at Telangana Government hospitals

The government teaching hospitals do not have exclusive super-specialty departments dedicated to minimally invasive surgeries.

Hyderabad: Minimally invasive surgeries, one of the key super-specialties that have in the past few years rapidly gained ground, remain inaccessible to needy patients at government hospitals in Telangana State.

Vital life saving surgeries for emergency patients suffering heart episodes need immediate unblocking of blood vessels, treatment for brain strokes by removal of blocks to stop internal bleeding, removal of tumours, biopsy and ablation, which uses heat to destroy cancerous cells and utilizing minimally invasive techniques to exactly deliver chemotherapy to the tumour cells, are not available in any of the government hospitals in the State.

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None of the top government teaching hospitals including those affiliated to Osmania General Hospital (OGH), Gandhi Hospital, Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal and even for that matter Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) offer such surgical techniques that have now become universally accepted for their safety and efficiency.

While minimally invasive surgeries, which enable patients to recover faster post-surgery and are vital surgical techniques to treat children, are routinely performed in private hospitals in Hyderabad, a similar initiative is lacking in government hospitals, despite the availability of highly skilled and experienced surgeons.

The government teaching hospitals do not have exclusive super-specialty departments dedicated to minimally invasive surgeries. “There are no separate minimally invasive surgical departments or department of Interventional Radiology at government hospitals in State. Doctors who perform such surgeries often learn from their seniors or peers through workshops and CME programs,” a senior surgeon at Gandhi Hospital said.

Niloufer Hospital, the top tertiary hospital for mother and child care in Hyderabad, does not have a dedicated Interventional Radiologist and a dedicated department is yet to be established. Such surgeries are very important for children at Niloufer Hospital, where critical cases need immediate surgery and infants do not recover from traditional surgeries due to excessive blood loss.

“Sick infants and children needing surgical intervention can’t recover from traditional ways of surgery, which are performed in adults. There is a lot of blood loss and recovery is always iffy among infants who undergoing traditional surgeries. So such instances, minimally invasive surgeries are way to go forward,” senior pediatrician from Niloufer Hospital said.