100 get free procedures
Published on Dec 23, 2016, 9:47 pm AST
By Anna Ramdass
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One hundred patients from the public health sector are happily in stitches this Christmas having been afforded free surgeries by a team of 21 surgeons of Medical Associates private hospital, St Joseph.
Medical Associates director and co-ordinator of the free surgery programme, Prof Vijay Narayansingh, said this is the seventh year the hospital has facilitated free surgeries.
He said 108 surgeries are usually done every year at Divali.
A total of 748 surgeries were performed free of charge at Medical Associates during the seven years.
Narayansingh said the gift of giving back started 15 years ago when the medical institution was asked to perform free surgeries for Divali.
“In the Hindu tradition, 108 is a sacred number, the mala or the garland has 108 beads on it, so this was a surgery mala that offered 108 surgeries. It evolved out of that the Sai organisation of Valsayn, which provided all the meals for the volunteers—breakfast, lunch and dunner—as the team worked round the clock to get the surgeries done,†he said.
Prayers before
surgeries
This year, the board decided to offer the free surgeries for Christmas as people of all faiths and religious backgrounds celebrate the festival.
The surgeries, Narayansingh said, were performed from December 10 to 16, adding that various teams comprising about 21 surgeons carried out 16 procedures a day.
He said every day started with half an hour of prayer at 6 a.m. before the surgeries.
Different prayers from the RC Church, ASJA, the Maha Sabha, the Pentecostal Church and others were offered each day.
“Christmas is ecumenical, celebrated by all groups and we felt it was a great idea to make it a wide-based effort,†he said.
Narayansingh explained the patients were sourced from the public health sector and the volunteer surgeons recommended the names of patients who have been on their waiting list.
The surgeries cover a wide range from simple to complex procedures.
He said 25 eye operations were performed and 75 other surgeries which include gynaecology, urology, vascular, gastric, etc.
The patients, he said, came from North Trinidad as it was felt it would be logistically challenging to include patients from South on the list.
Narayansingh said there are so many patients on the waiting list for surgeries in the public health sector that it was easy to choose and get the operations done within the specified time period.
“This would not have been possible if not funded and supported by the board of Medical Associates, for the hospital to bear the cost of the disposals, the drugs, the beds, the nursing staff, etc, it is quite noteworthy,†said Narayansingh.
As to the cost of this which would seemingly run to into millions, Narayansingh said he, neither the board ever tried to put a figure to it.
“We did not try to compute it. We looked at the cases that needed to be done and we did them.
“Some are way more expensive than others as we would have cataract surgeries which are done under local anaesthetic to more complex procedures which are done under general anaesthetic and are more costly,†he said.
“I don’t want to put a figure to it, the board has not given it any thought, they gave us one week to get the work done and we did it,†he said.
Narayansingh said when the programme first started he would handle the cases single-handedly but now he plays a minor role as there are many surgeons with big hearts who have come on board and volunteer to give back and spread the Christmas cheer.
