by Mir Suneem
Srinagar: While medical science has shown boundless growth with the advent of new technologies and infrastructure, first Minimal Invasive Heart surgery was performed by a local cardiac Surgeon here at Khyber Medical Institute, Srinagar on Tuesday, December 25.
Two female patients diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) underwent this surgery as an alternative to open-heart surgery. The surgery was done by a specialized heart surgeon, Dr Syed Asrar Qadri along with a team of doctors including Dr Showkat Ahmad Shah, head of Postoperative and Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“We have been doing open heart surgeries here in our Institute right from the year 2013. The surgeries were performed by our visiting non-local cardiac surgeon, Dr Ajay Kaul and he handled above 50 such cases,” said the administrator of Khyber Hospital, Shahnawaz Amin.
“Then, in September 2017, we got a local surgeon, Dr Syed Asrar Qadri and from there onwards, he has been performing cardiac surgeries and has done more than 50 open heart surgeries including CABG (Coronary artery bypass surgery), valve replacements, AVR(Aortic valve replacement), MVR (Mitrial valve replacement) and ASD (Atrial septal defect) and this is probably the first time that MICS (Minimal invasive cardiac surgery) has been performed in the valley by any local surgeon,” he added.
Dr Qadri said that this kind of surgery is the best alternative to open heart surgeries wherein the necessary operation is performed through a small incision of 5-7 centimetres in the chest with the help of specialized equipment.
“The surgeon needs to be well versed with the technicalities and equipment required in this surgery. I have earlier worked in Fortis Escorts, Delhi for six years and have good exposure of such surgeries. In Kashmir, we recently got the instruments required for it and successfully attended two such cases. Moreover, it has enormous benefits for patients, especially for female patients as this is cosmetically superior and leaves no scar,” said the doctor.
Dr Showkat Ahmad Shah said he has started the department six years before and is heading two Intensive Care Units (ICU’s) as a full-time senior consultant.
The two patients namely Taja from Chadoora and Asha Bano from Pampore were quite satisfied with this operation and said that they didn’t face any problems and complications during the surgery or afterwards.
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One of the attendants of a patient said, “We feel fortunate enough that such surgeries are carried out in our valley now and we don’t have to take our patients outside the state for quality treatment. The doctors have assured that the patients recover faster and can resume their normal activities just after discharge from the hospital.”
