AIIMS aims at leap to future

Patna: Surgeons working in the state-run medical college and hospitals now have a genuine reason to envy their counterparts working in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna.

Reason: They will be deprived of the hi-tech operation theatres (OTs) equipped with all modern features which their counterparts at AIIMS will get.

The modular OTs, which are in the making at AIIMS-Patna, will boast of many advanced features – live telecast of the surgery into the lecture theatres. A medical student sitting in the lecture theatre hall of AIIMS-Patna can watch live surgeries performed by doctors inside the hospital’s OT.

That’s not all, the OT doors will have sensors, implying that they will open automatically and close automatically. Surgeons will have to point out their hands towards the sensors on the door and they would open automatically.

The OTs will be connected to each other. Basically they will be integrated OTs, as there will be a phone connection in each OT, which will be linked to the phones of the other OTs, intensive care unit and other major wings of the hospital so that a surgeon in the OT can take help of his/her fellow surgeon whenever required. Right now, this facility is not available in the OTs of the state-run medical college hospitals.

The 28 new OTs, which the hospital awaits, will sport all these features. The existing OTs, including three major and two minor ones, don’t have these facilities. While Patna will be given eight new OTs shortly, which would be part of the trauma and emergency wing, the remaining 20 meant for non-trauma cases will be handed over in the later phase.

“The sensor system will also be present in the scrub station, wherein doctors wash their hands before and after surgery. The water tap will automatically switch on when one waves fingers towards the sensor in the tap. This system will be extremely beneficial for the surgeons, as it will not only minimise waste of water but it would also ensure that the doctor doesn’t get any possible infection he/she contracts from touching the tap. Usually, nurse and attendants help doctors in this in the OT but on many occasions, owing to hurry and some other reasons, doctors contract infection. These features would keep the surgeon infection-free,” said a senior doctor of AIIMS Patna wishing anonymity.

“All the OTs of AIIMS Patna will be attached to the sensor-based scrub station and an 8x8ft room in which there will be various racks to store instruments safely just like you get racks for keeping articles in a modular kitchen,” added the doctor.

“The instruments used in the surgery will be kept covered at a designated place in that room. The instruments are kept in the OTs itself after surgery in state-run hospitals.”

Also, there would also be a central control panel to control humidity, temperature, medical gas level, timer, fire alarm system and many other safety features in the premier health hub’s OT. “The OTs will also have a laminar airflow system aimed at keeping the operation theatre area bacteria-free. It would ensure a flow of air from the top and side creating almost zero bacteria zone around the operating theatre,” added the doctor.

An anaesthetist at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), wishing anonymity, confirmed that these advanced features were not available in the hospital’s OT.

“We have been told that all these facilities will be available in the OTs that would be present in the 5,000-bed PMCH,” he said.

Courtesy: The Telegraph