RML students to watch surgeries live in e-classrooms

Students of Ram Manohar Lohiya (RML) Hospital will soon be able to watch live surgeries and interact with the operating doctors real time through a video conferencing facility, a first for medical colleges in the national capital.
While world over such technologies are being widely used as a teaching tool, these were sorely missed in the medical campuses in the country, including in Delhi and NCR.
As part of the programme, all operation theatres will be connected to the classrooms through the telemedicine infrastructure facility, Dr A K Gadpayle, Medical Superintendent of RML said.
"The 360-degree state-of-the-art cameras will catch the intricate details and there will be live streaming of surgeries and diagnostic procedures like endoscopy, colonoscopy, ultrasound etc. Also, there will be real time screening of other ICU procedures like putting central venous catheters, arterial line or bronchoscopy.

"Doctors, while performing the surgeries or other procedures, will also interact and explain the nuances involved. At the same students will also be able can ask questions," said Gadpayle.
The project, he said, has been sanctioned by the Union Health Ministry and is in line with Prime Minister's ambitious 'Digital India' initiative. According to estimates, the project will be implemented at a cost of Rs 50 crore.

Citing the advantages of the programme, Dr Sameek Bhattacharya, member of the Medical Education Technology (MET) Division at RML hospital and professor, Burns and Plastic Surgery Department said, "It is always not possible to take all the students inside the OTs when procedures are being carried out. In the current setting, students stand beside a surgeon and watch the surgery being performed. So there is a possibility of diversion of attention, also there is increased footfall and possibility of infection.

"Under this new initiative, there will be live screening and students can witness the procedures sitting in the e-classrooms," Bhattacharya said.
According to Dr Praveen Kumar Malik, chairman of MET Division and Head of Department (Opthalmology), the new facility will greatly benefit the medical fraternity.
"With this facility in place, live surgeries, once recorded, can be viewed later for future reference for next generation of doctors," he said.