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Sri Sathya Sai Institute Of
Higher Medical Sciences SSSIHMS Today
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, November 1, 2003
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/05NOV01/TemplesHealing/SSSIHMS.htm
SSSIHMS
TODAY
In Prasanthi
Gram did the Lord a Healing Dome Decree
Ailing Hearts and failing eyes, to cure, without a fee.
Soon the rose a stately temple on this ground
To spread health and wellness all around.
Amidst hill
and dale and verdant grove,
Stands this beacon of Healing Love,
Our Lord's Message beaming to all,
Love All, Serve All.
K.Vishwanathan,
(Chief Engineer, SSSIHMS) |
Ever since that
historic day in November 1991 the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of
Higher Medical Sciences has made purposeful strides towards
fulfilling its destiny under the Divine Guidance of our Beloved
Swami.
On the 22nd November
1992, the Department of Uro-Nephrology was commissioned, and a
unit for kidney transplantation was inaugurated a year after that.
In November 1994, the Department of Ophthalmology was started and
the Institute began offering post-graduate programs for training
of specialists in Cardio thoracic Surgery, Cardiology, Urology,
Anesthesiology and Ophthalmology. With passing years, the existing
services in each department also expanded. Computerized Tomography
(CT) scanning facility was introduced in November 1996; and the
Lithotripsy Center was added to the Department of Urology in June
1999. The SSSIHMS also made advancements in surgeries, other
interventions and diagnostics, in keeping with the best practices
in centers of excellence, world over.
Who Needs the Pump Anyway?
Its been
two years since Dr.Neelam Desai, Senior Cardiac
Surgeon -SSSIHMS, has used a heart-lung machine for a
routine Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery. She has
totally gone 'off-pump'! A bypass surgery is performed,
when the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart
(the coronary arteries), are blocked. In a coronary
artery bypass surgery, surgeons sew a blood vessel
into a coronary artery to reroute blood around a
region where it is blocked.
There
was a time when this surgery, was performed only 'on-pump'.
In an on-pump procedure, the heart is stopped and
blood is detoured around both the heart and the lungs,
but circulated through the rest of the body. However,
the use of heart-lung machines can cause potentially
fatal complications. Off-pump surgery reduces these
problems and has a faster recovery. In the off-pump
operation, using a device called the "Octopus",
surgeons limit the motion of a portion of the heart,
and perform the bypass on a beating heart.Dr.Neelam
Desai, who performs 90% of the bypass surgeries 'off-pump',
agrees that this procedure is more demanding than the
on-pump procedure, but adds, "The patient definitely
benefits from the off-pump surgery. Their
post-operative stay in the hospital is both, shorter
and healthier!"
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Shocking
the Stone!
For the
doctors in the Department of Urology, SSSIHMS, its an
odd coincidence the place they work at, is in the
Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh; simply translated
as the Land of Stones. The incidence of kidney stones
(Renal Calculus) in this area is amongst the highest
in the country. In the past, all kidney stones were
removed surgically. In June 1999, Swami gave the
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripter to the SSSIHMS,
at a cost of a few cores of rupees, revolutionizing
the removal of kidney stones in the
hospital.
With this machine, stones below the size of 3 cm, in
the kidney and the ureter, are now removed without any
surgery! The stones are first localized using
ultrasound or fluoroscopy, and then pulverized into
tiny fragments with the application of shock waves.
Dr. Ram Gopal, Head of the Department of Urology,
opines, "With this method, patients are spared of
surgery, consequent hospitalization and post-operative
pain. The actual treatment takes about an hour and the
patient is discharged within a day. It is really a
boon to many of our poor patients, who live on daily
wages. They can get back to work soon and the loss of
man-hours of work is reduced." To date, over 1500
patients have been treated with the ESWL, and the
number grows by the day?
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As one enters the
soothing premises of the central dome, one clearly sees the most
important Message of Bhagawan inscribed on a plaque - "Paropakarartham
Idam Sareeram," meaning, the body is given to serve others. That
is the guiding principle in whatever Swami does and what He
expects the staff to do in this temple of healing. Cutting edge
technology, backed by a dedicated team of medical and paramedical
personnel, and above all the Divine Grace of Sai, have enabled the
hospital in notching up an impressive record. More than five lakh
patients have been treated in all the out patient departments over
the past nine years. More than ten thousand heart surgeries have
alleviated the sufferings of as many families and given new life
to them. Thousands more have benefited directly from Urological
procedures, some of which were quite complex. Almost ten thousand
ophthalmic surgeries have given vision to those with eye defects.
Thousands more, admitted in hopeless conditions, have walked back
home, healed in body and spirit. When one sits back and
contemplates on the enormity of work done, one cannot but wonder
at the Divine Love of Sai, who has set an example for all of us to
emulate.
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