KIMS Orthopaedics Prof shines at Indo-US Hands Surgery Meet in Manipal

Dr. Santosh Rath, Professor Orthopaedics with the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) attended the 5th Indo-US Hands Surgery Conference at Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal. He chaired the opening ceremony and  spoke on  the burden of hand injuries, specially in the low-income groups.

Hand injuries are the sixth most common injuries,  including domestic  accidents. He emphasised the need for international collaborations and transfer of knowledge through  surgical training and exchange programmes.  Lt. General  (Dr)  MD Venkatesh,  Vice-Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) delivered his speech highlighting the pioneering work of Prof. Bhaskaranand Kumar, Professor of Orthopaedics at KMC in conducting nearly 100 basic hand courses in India.

Prof. Santosh Rath, the current President of Indian Society for Surgery of the Hand (ISSH) delivered the Kutav Oration  and shared his vision for the Presidential theme “Improving quality and access to hand surgery in India”.

High quality training, such as the CME during the Indo-US conference, training of trainers (TOT) to deliver standardised basic and advanced hand surgery courses across India, specially in B and C class cities and certification programmes through ISSH were few of the ideas elaborated during the oration.

“Engaging general surgeons, orthopaedic and trauma surgeons in district and sub-divisional hospitals and pharmacists, the primary respondents  in trauma care and training them on the principles for hand injuries management and establishing a referral system in India can reduce the disabilities from hand injuries and save many a working hand,’’ Prof Rath observed.

Prof. Chaitanaya Mudgal, Harvard Medical School, USA and Prof. Amit Gupta, Louisville, Kentucky, USA were the international faculty and they shared recent trends in the management of hand injuries and congenital differences in new born babies. The audience and M.Ch. hand surgery trainees had an opportunity to interact with the international faculty and enjoyed the fellowship.