Publications

Latest JOGS (ONE) Publications

Empowering The Rural Surgeons, The Way Forward For Meeting The Surgical Needs Of Rural Areas

Gnanaraj Jesudian
SUBMITTED: 29.06.2021 PEER REVIEWED IN: United Kingdom, India, Mexico ACCEPTED: 13.08.2021 PUBLISHED: 14.08.2021
A PEER REVIEWER FOR THIS ARTICLE DONATED THEIR $10 BITCOIN CASH STIPEND TO Children's Surgical Centre, Cambodia!
OPEN ACCESS

Globally, 60% of the surgical procedures are carried out for 15% of the world population in developed countries. The Lancet commission on Global surgery estimates that a population of 100000 would ideally require 5000 surgical procedures every year. Although the national average is about 800 in most of the rural areas in India, in the North-eastern states it varies from 30 to 300. We look at the various models and options available for empowering the surgeons in the rural areas. Short Term Medical Missions have been used for a long time including those with structured programs. Pioneering long term medical missions are few and difficult to sustain. Empowering surgeons working in rural areas with modern surgical techniques is a sustainable solution with high impact. Empowering the rural surgeons with training in Gas Insufflation Less Laparoscopic Surgeries and Endoscopic Urology surgeries helped the surgical coverage in the target population of the 8 rural hospitals studied go up from 1287 per 100000 per year to 2880 the next year and 3739 the following year. It is a financially sustainable model that could be scaled up by funding travel of the trainers and equipment for the trainees.