Stunt surgeries spook surgeons

Madurai is back in news for the same reason. This time, doctors in the oncology department at Rajaji Hospital in Madurai tried another stunt by performing 14 breast cancer surgeries in a single day within 3.5 hours, to enter into the Guinness Book of World Record.

If your math isn't that bad, try calculating and you'll come to 15 minutes per surgery.

In a press conference Thursday, head of the oncology department in the hospital, Dr. B.K.C.R. Mohan Prasad, said that an in-house team of three doctors including himself, chief anesthetist Dr. R.Chandrasekhar and surgeon Dr. Gopinath had achieved the “feat” by performing non-stop from 8.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Aug. 24.

“We opened four patients at one go. I would open the affected breast, remove the tumour and move on to the next patient. My assistant and a post-graduate student would then close the cut. By the time I moved to the fourth patient, the first patient would be ready to be sent to the recovery room and the next patient would be wheeled in,” said Dr. BKCR Mohan Prasad.

The doctors probably thought that the “feat” would win them instant fame, but instead it has landed the team in controversy. The Tamil Nadu Government has taken an exception to it and has ordered a probe in the matter.

Government enquiry ordered
Condemning the act, the State Health Department said that it has never issued permissions for such exercises. The department has constituted a team led by Tamil Nadu Medical Education Director, Dr. S. Vinayagam, for an inquiry into the matter.

“We do not approve of it and we have not sent it to any agency for recognition. Safety is our prime concern and we condemn anything that can risk a patient’s life,” said principal secretary for Health, V K Subburaj.

Medical fraternity in shock
The act has shocked the medical fraternity in the state. Tamil Nadu State Medical Council and the Indian Medical Association have termed the development as a “blatant violation of the Hippocratic Oath”.

Questioning the act for putting the lives of patients in danger, the medical fraternity has asked the concerned hospital that while it takes at least one hour to perform such surgeries, including the preparation time, how did they manage do one operation in less than 15 minutes. Was it just for the sake of entering into Guinness Book of World Record?

Stunt surgery performers' take
Hospital officials, however, in their defense said that they chose to publicize the record to create an awareness about the facilities available in the hospital.

“Non-stop lumpectomy on 14 women is proof of the facilities available in the hospital.” said Dr. S. M. Sivakumar, dean of the hospital.

Subburaj confirmed that the patients were recovering well. “It is just proof of the fact that government hospitals can match the standard of health care provided by private hospitals. A team of eight doctors operated in the morning while a team of six doctors operated in the evening over the 14 patients,” he added.

In the past, Coimbatore-based Dr. C Palanivelu did 26 hernia operations in 24 hours time for the same Guinness Book entry; Dr. K Murugesan along with Dr. M. Gandhimathy allowed their 15-year-old son to perform caesarean in 2007; Chennai-based Dr. J. S. Rajkumar operated on 50 hernia patients in a day, in an attempt to enter the record books in 2006.