Expressing serious concern over medical students in the State not preferring to specialise in reconstructive surgery, K. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, plastic surgeon and burns treatment specialist, said the specialisation was in dire need of manpower.
Dr. Mathangi, Avvaiyar Award winner for 2014, was addressing the golden jubilee celebration of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Government Rajaji Hospital here on Friday.
“Despite the importance laid on burns care by the State government, not many students are attracted to the field unlike their counterparts in Kerala and Mumbai,” she added.
Dr. Mathangi said the survival rate of burns patients had gone up from 50 to 75 per cent with the advent of the latest technology,” she added.
Prabha Yadav, president, Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, was all praise for the burns ward at the GRH. He said the facility would be of benefit to several patients from southern districts.
G. Veerasekar, Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery, said the department, then named ‘Plastic and Facio-Maxillary Surgery’ centre, started functioning with 12 beds on January 26, 1964, thanks to the efforts taken by Sam C Bose, one of the pioneers of plastic surgery in the country.
Now, it had become the only plastic surgery department across all government hospitals to provide comprehensive treatment for all kinds of problems, including cleft lip and palette surgery, critical burns injury, congenital disorders correction and facial ortho correction for accident victims.
